


Far too Young to Die

by The_Lord_of_Chaos



Series: Among the Stars [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reunions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 71,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23640304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lord_of_Chaos/pseuds/The_Lord_of_Chaos
Summary: Still dealing with the fallout of Lance's time loop, Team Voltron is still going out every day to turn back the Galran onslaught.  Meanwhile, it's time for the war to come to Earth.  A new point of view as a reporter from Earth is picked up to show the people back home what's happening in the rest of the galaxy.Alternate title for this story: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt
Series: Among the Stars [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1218705
Comments: 30
Kudos: 98





	1. Upward Over the Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to my Voltron series. FYI, I've been a bit caught up recently with Phic Phight 2020, but come May I'll be more focused on Voltron. Hope you enjoy.  
> Story title came from the Panic! At the Disco song of the same name.  
> Chapter title came from the Iron & Wine song of the same name.  
> Alternate chapter title: Don't Tell Mama from the Cabaret song of the same name.

“So how long does this stay on?” Keith asked, feeling his skin start to tingle as the paste began to dry out.

“Ten more minutes,” Lance said, before resuming his recounting of the time he got pulled out by a riptide and made friends with a fisherman.

Lance had probably never liked being alone, Keith didn’t think, but his need for company, and sometimes for constant chatter, had only grown since his time-loop experience.Since he’d been captured.Lance didn’t like to be alone, Keith liked being around Lance, so it was a pretty simple solution as far as Keith was concerned.He hadn’t signed up for a makeover though, but Hunk had suggested he ask.

“This will hardly be a makeover,” Lance had responded to Keith when he had first proposed they have a spa day.“But I will do what I can.”When Lance had found out that the last mission of the day had been scrubbed due to a spatial anomaly over their target he’d announced that the rest of the day should be for relaxation.This was good because Lance had been benched the day before for an involuntary ‘mental health’ day, and Keith was glad that Lance was feeling upbeat.Keith had, of course, volunteered to relax with him and had followed through on Hunk’s suggestion.

Keith let Lance’s story wash over him, always eager to learn more about his soulmate.

“Here,” Lance said.“Give me one of your hands.”

Keith obliged without question, having no idea why Lance was asking.Lance took Keith’s hand in both of his and started rubbing it.Keith wasn’t aware that a hand massage was a thing, had in fact never had any sort of massage ever, and had developed a general aversion to being touched during his earlier teens, but that didn’t apply to Lance, and he found it felt nice.

“Huh,” Keith said.

“Veronica used to do this when I got upset,” Lance said.

“I’m not upset,” Keith said.He was a bit out of his element, relaxing felt… strange, to say the least, but he was doing it with Lance so it was nice.

“It’s still relaxing,” Lance said.

“What would you be upset about?” Keith asked.

He couldn’t see Lance shrug; Lance had told him to close his eyes.He did feel it through their joint limbs and he could imagine the look on Lance’s face.

“I had a lot of trouble with school.Trouble with my family before I was diagnosed.Mamá would try all these tricks she’d used with my brothers and sisters and cousins, to help them learn and not get in trouble, but none of it worked with me.It was frustrating for everyone, but mostly for me.I felt like I was stupid, like I was bad, I felt like something inside of me was sabotaging my life.Veronica would find me sometimes after I’d stormed off in frustration and she’d help me calm down.”

Keith wished, as he often wished, that he had found Lance so much earlier.Keith would have made sure Lance didn’t feel like there was something wrong with him, though he didn’t know how.

“The way you talk about them,” Keith said.“I didn’t think you had problems like that.”

“They weren’t mistreating me or anything,” Lance was quick to say.“They never called me stupid, or anything like that.They had expectations though, and they didn’t understand why I didn’t learn like the others, or why I’d wander off in a crowd, or forget to do a chore moments after they told me.Like I said, frustrating for everyone.They still loved me.Told me that every day.Mamá would still sit me in her lap at the kitchen table and teach me how to make cookies.Papá still taught me how to swim, and carried me around on his back.Luis menaced any of the kids at school who _did_ call me stupid.They were always there for me, they just didn’t understand me.”

“When were you diagnosed?” Keith asked.

“I was nine,” Lance said.“Medication helped a lot, though I still had a lot of problems.That’s where my family came in.They learned, they all did, what it was like in my head, and they learned how to help me.”

Keith wasn’t good at talking about himself, but his soulmate should know him too.“My dad was like that,” he said.“I was… I was eight when he died.”

“Oh that sucks,” Lance said.“I’m sorry.Was it sudden?”

Keith shook his head.The fire had been sudden, he supposed, but the death certainly hadn’t been.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said.“I’m glad the Shiroganes took you in.”

“Oh,” Keith said.“Yeah.”They hadn’t understood him, but they’d tried more than anyone else had since he’d been dropped into the foster system.“I was fourteen at the time.”

“Who were you with before that?” Lance asked.

“A lot of people,” Keith said. 

“A lot of homes or a really big family?” Lance asked.

“A lot of homes,” Keith said.“It was okay though.”It hadn’t been, but Keith wasn’t ready to tell Lance about any of that.

“Still must have been rough getting moved around,” Lance said.

“Tell me about the beach,” Keith said.“I’ve never been.”

Whether or not Lance knew Kieth was deliberately changing the subject or not, he just said, “Oh, we need to fix that.”He kept talking for a while, in which time he moved on to Keith’s other hand and then Keith took Lance’s hands in turn, which felt super great.Lance looked happy, or as happy as one could look while their face was covered in goop.

Peeling off the face mask was oddly satisfying and Lance rubbing in some moisturizer afterwords was oddly intimate, though Lance seemed to be oblivious to that.

“I used to tell Matt we’d do this once we escaped,” Lance said suddenly.“I think we just needed something to look forward to.”

Keith decided it was pretty stupid to be jealous of someone who was stuck in a Galran labour camp.Especially since Lance suddenly looked down. 

“You will,” Keith said, going too far in the other direction.“We all will,” he said correcting course.

“We’ll find them,” Lance agreed, still looking a bit lost.“It’s getting late, I should go check on our gremlin.”

“I’ll go with you,” Keith said.“Um, I’ll just check to see if she’s…”He cleared his throat and tapped his comm.

“Keith to Pidge.”

“What’s up?”

“Are you two still working on your project in the Lion’s bay?Lance wants to come see how you’re doing.”

A pause.

“We’ll see you there.”

Pidge and Hunk had been working on something in secret for a while with a couple of engineers from the fleet.Pidge had set up a workspace next to her lion, but Keith made sure they took the route to the bay entrance closest to Blue.Lance always liked to say hi.Keith felt Red brush against his mind as they entered and Lance went and gave one of Blue’s fore claws a hug.Green was almost at the opposite end of the bay and Keith took a bit of Lance’s lead and greeted Red as they passed.

Keith had a brief moment of anxiety when he saw that one of the Kormian’s who worked with Pidge on intel was there, but that turned to relief when she bowed out and walked away without ever seeing Keith or Lance.The hyper formality of their culture always left Keith feeling wrong footed, especially since, for all that there seemed to be rules to every interaction, Keith couldn’t learn any but the most basic of them.

“Alright,” Lance called out when they got close.“What’ve I got to bribe you with to tell me what it is you’re working on?”

The Sif and Nang’ok engineers weren’t there, and it was just Hunk and Pidge working on the mess of cables and gizmos that littered the workspace.Pidge looked up at them, pushing her glasses back up her nose as they reflected the computer screen in front of her.

“You know my price,” Pidge said.

“Nope,” Lance said.“No candy for the gremlin until movie night.”

Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.

“I don’t make the rules,” Lance said.Keith was pretty sure Lance had negotiated them with Coran.

“We have had a prototype for a bit,” Hunk said, with a sly grin at Pidge.

“Barely,” Pidge said, a bit over the top.“It isn’t ready yet.”

“I want to show it off,” Hunk said, wheedling.

“Fine,” Pidge said.“Show off what you made, but I get to do the big reveal.”

“Okay,” Hunk said.“So you remember that Ocaampan AI from before?”

“Do I remember the binary monstrosity that killed us five hundred times?” Lance asked.

A moment of silence.

“It actually uses qubits,” Pidge said.

“Yes,” Lance said.“Thank you for clarifying.Please tell me you didn’t recreate the thing.”

“We didn’t create an AI,” Hunk said.

“Not yet,” Pidge mumbled and Keith was pretty sure his own sensitive ears were the only ones that heard her.

“Just some of the components,” Hunk said.“That terminal didn’t just house an incredibly complex program, it had processors way more advanced than anything in the fleet.”

“Even in the castle?” Keith asked.

“Even in the castle,” Hunk agreed.“So we’d gotten scans on the thing, but the Ocaampans engineer everything to prevent that sort of stuff so we only got a vague idea of how it worked.With a bit of brainstorming though we came up with this.”He gestured towards a shiny metal object that looked a bit like a big potato with a dozen cables sticking out of it. 

“That thing?” Lance said.

“Yep,” Pidge said.

“So, if things start going crazy around here, that’s what I’m shooting?” Lance asked.

“It’s not an AI,” Pidge said.“It can’t make decisions outside of it’s parameters.”

“Uh huh,” Lance said, eyeballing the thing like he had it in his sights.

“So what are you doing with it?” Keith asked.

“The important questions,” Pidge said, looking at Hunk.

“So, we’ve got a few electromagnetic particle redistribution field generators here,” Hunk said.

“Sure sure,” Lance said.“Some of those, gotcha.”

“Now, of course, redistributing a single beam is pretty easy,” Hunk said.“But doing a complete sphere in real time is just impossible with the tech we had on hand.”

“Of course,” Lance said.“Wouldn’t even imagine doing that.”

“Except with some help from our allies, our new processor here, and some serious coding from Pidge we have ourselves a-“

“Nope!” Pidge cut in.“Me now.Me, me, me.”

“Pidge was the one who proposed this project,” Hunk said.

“Gentlemen,” Pidge said, gesturing behind herself.“What do you see before you?”

“Your lion,” Keith said.

“A tiny gremlin,” Lance suggested.

“My lion,” Pidge said.“Yes, thank you Keith.”She turned toward Green.“Hey boy, do you want to let out a roar just so they know you’re really there?”

Keith slapped his hands over his ears along with everyone else as the Green Lion reared back and let out a roar.Before Pidge could continue they got a call from Shiro making sure everything was okay. 

“Let’s say we believe that your lion hasn’t been replaced by a cardboard cutout,” Lance said.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure,” Pidge said.“Because after what I do next, you might doubt.”

“What’s that?” Lance asked.

“This,” Pidge said, striking a key on her computer and then with a few shudders of refracted light, the green lion disappeared.

“Woah,” Lance said.“So what, you wrapped it in a hologram?”

“That could make it look different sure,” Pidge said.“But I couldn’t make it look like nothing was there at all from multiple perspectives.”

“You can make something look bigger with a hologram,” Hunk said.“You can’t shrink it or anything like that unless there’s a single observer you’re tracking.”

“It’s a cloaking device,” Keith said.

“Bingo,” Pidge said.

“No way!” Lance exclaimed.

Keith wracked his brain.“I don’t think I’ve seen that in any of my lifetimes,” he said.That got him a bit of a look from Lance and he didn’t know what it meant.In the whole aftermath of Lance’s ordeal, it had only taken a careless comment from Keith while Allura was giving a more detailed explanation of Wanderers to drag out a few of his more carefully guarded secrets.He worried sometimes that Lance had started to suspect some of the other aspects of Wanderers, though for all that Lance was an open book, and he was Keith’s soulmate, Keith was never really sure what was going on with people if they didn’t just say it outright. Of course, then there were times when it was all he could do not to just blurt it out and ruin everything.It was weird that everyone on Team Voltron and the Council now knew that he had countless lifetimes of memories in his head.

“Oh yeah!” Pidge said.“You hear that Hunk? This is a Voltron Alliance original.”

“I didn’t say that,” Keith said.

“Nu uh,” Pidge said.“Never been done before.Not in the history of the universe.”

“So is this like an OG cloaking device or a Pegasus cloaking device?” Lance asked.

“We did not phase my Lion out of our plane of reality,” Pidge said, somehow understanding whatever it was that Lance had just said.

“The field detects and then redirects particles across the EM spectrum,” Hunk said.“To an outside observer, it’s like they go right through.”

“So like particle beams from Galra ships?” Lance asked.

“Nothing that strong,” Hunk said.“Just the stuff you can see and detect.”

“Well,” Pidge said.“We’re not there yet.”

“We’ve got the visible light spectrum down,” Hunk said.“And we don’t really have any roadblocks ahead of us that I can see.It’s just going to take us a bit to get everything perfect.”

“So, what about a personal cloaking device?” Lance asked.

“Component wise, we might have problems making it small,” Pidge said.

“And physics wise, we might have trouble making it big, like castle big,” Hunk said.“But for Voltron and more than half the ships in the fleet, yeah, we’re going to be undetectable.”

“How detectable are wormholes?” Lance asked.

“For us or for the Galra?” Hunk asked.

“For the Galra,” Lance said.

“They’re not great at long range anything,” Hunk said.“Depends on if they’ve got any sensor arrays close enough, and even then…”

“Will we be able to detect our own cloaked ships? How are we going to make sure we’re not running into each other?”

“We’re still working on that,” said Hunk, “But we’re already pretty sure we know how we’ll do it.”

“So when does Blue get blinged out?” Lance asked.

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other and shrugged. 

“Not yet,” Hunk said.

“Well,” Lance said.“Pretty sure this’ll save the galaxy or something.Good work team.In the meantime, dinner’s happening soon so don’t be late.”

“I think we’ll make it on time,” Hunk said.“If we don’t get any more distractions, but tell me, how was spa day?”

Keith knew that Hunk was being nosy; that the entire team besides Lance now knew where his heart lay. 

“You two should have joined us,” Lance said. 

“Oh, we wouldn’t have wanted to interrupt,” Pidge said, grinning at Keith.

“Pretty sure neither of you two really know how to relax properly,” Lance said, and then his hand came up and draped itself across Keith’s shoulders.“Thought the same of Keith here, but he did super well.”

“I can tell,” Pidge said.“There’s a certain glow about him.”

Keith was blushing red.

“Shiro to Keith,” Shiro’s voice came in on Keith’s comm, saving him.

“Keith here,” Keith said, turning away from the others, before Lance could see his face.

“I’ve made some changes to tomorrow’s mission and I’ve pushed the details to your tablet, could you meet with the Strike Team before dinner and go over it with them?”

“Of course,” Keith said, feeling a bit of dread.“You want- I mean Lance should be there too, right?”

“That’s right,” Shiro said.“He’s still with you?”

“He’s here,” Keith said.“We’ll go right now.”

“Thank you,” Shiro said.“We can go over any feedback after dinner.”

“Yep,” Keith said.“See you then.”

“Did Shiro want to see us?” Lance asked.

Keith shook his head.“I need to get my tablet and then we’re meeting with the Strike Team.”

“Cool,” Lance said.He turned back to Hunk and Pidge.“Super awesome job.See you two at dinner.”

They started walking towards their quarters.“Something up with tomorrow’s missions?”

“Just some changes,” Keith said.“I’m supposed to go over them with the Strike Team.”There was only one mission the following day that involved the Strike Team.

Lance nodded at him and Keith felt guilty, because he knew how the meeting would go.

Lance chattered on about his own thoughts for the following day’s missions and then they got to Keith’s room and started going over the information Shiro had sent.

“Starting from the top of the tower,” Lance observed.

“We can flush the Galra out without getting things too close to non-combatants,” Keith observed.

“We’ll be more exposed when we land,” Lance said.

“We can do a drop instead of a landing,” Keith said.“Will Blue provide cover?”

There was only so much the Lions could do without a pilot, part of that depended on the connection with their Paladin, and Lance’s bond with Blue was the strongest.Hard to predict what Red would do.

“Blue will have our backs,” Lance said.They started walking towards the Strike Team’s barracks.They both chewed on the Operations Order for a bit as they walked.

“You know,” Lance said.“If we’re going from the top we can have air assault go down the side and plant charges.”He pointed to a couple of places on the diagram.“They could be back up in a moment and we’d have a big distraction when we breech.”

“They’ll be exposed,” Keith said, pointing out a ground based cannon with a line of sight.“We’ll have to take this out before we ingress.”

Lance nodded. 

Keith looked at the schematics of the building, using his fingers to zoom.“I’m worried about this corridor here.They can pinch us in.Leave a trio here where it’s more defensible?”

Lance nodded.“Yeah, and air assault will leave another charge on the side here that they can detonate if they need to.”

They were getting close to the Strike Team’s barracks.Keith glanced up from the tablet towards Lance.

“Do you want me to handle the meeting?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded.They’d never really discussed it, the fact that Shiro had put Keith in charge when it was Lance that did all the talking.During combat was one thing, Keith could bark out orders for what needed to be done same as Lance, but actually managing daily operations… The thing was, that Keith knew full well that Lance would love the recognition, just as he knew that Shiro wanted Keith to be his second in command.They’d never really discussed it until…

“Have you ever talked to him about it?” Lance asked.

“Who?” Keith asked, knowing full well.

“Shiro,” Lance said.“About the Strike Team.”

“Oh,” Keith said.“No, I haven’t.”

Lance was quiet.

“I know this isn’t fair to you,” Keith said.

“You don’t actually care about the position though, do you,” Lance said.

“No,” Keith said.“I don’t want it.”

“You should say something,” Lance said.

“You don’t understand,” Keith said.

“I want to,” Lance said.

It wasn’t like Keith hadn’t had good childhoods or good families in other lifetimes, he had; he’d had great families, but no lifetime ever really made up for the one you were living.

“You’ve never… You don’t know what it’s like to be rejected by your family,” Keith said.“Shiro’s the only family I have, really.”Because Lance wasn’t really his in this lifetime, no matter how much Keith wanted him to be.“You will always have people who love you, who would do anything for you.I had my dad and he’s gone now, but he wasn’t the only family I had, you know?I had aunts and uncles and cousins.I had grandparents.None of them wanted to take the kid who wouldn’t even look at them until he was five.Shiro cares about me, but he’s also relying on me and I can’t… I can’t disappoint him like that.”

Lance hugged him. 

When he’d been younger, much younger, he’d been incredibly tactile.Or he had been with his dad anyway.He could remember times when his dad would come home from work and Keith would latch onto him, a silent demand to be carried.He remembered curling up next to him on the couch when they watched television and sneaking into his dad’s room at night more often than not.After he’d died, Keith hadn’t had anyone he wanted to be close to, and certainly hadn’t had anyone who wanted to hug him.

Maybe the Shiroganes had.His last foster dad had always been full of pats on the back and an encouraging word, and his last foster mother had always smoothed his hair down in a way that his dad had done once upon a time.They’d taken him in wanting someone he wasn’t though, and he’d wondered since he’d left the Garrison in disgrace if they’d taken in another kid, or if they’d been worried about getting another Keith. 

Sometimes he thought that Shiro was someone he was supposed to hug, like if he’d actually gone to the Shiroganes when he was eight, he knew that he would have always gravitated towards Shiro like he really was his older brother.Maybe he would have eventually accepted the Shiroganes as his parents.None of that had happened though.Shiro was still there, and that was something, but for all the hands on his shoulder, and for all that Shiro still treated him like he was his younger brother, Keith didn’t think he was able to just go up to him for a hug.He didn’t think he was really allowed to screw up.Now though, there was Lance.He’d been getting used to hugs since Lance’s ordeal.They were nice, but just then as Lance wrapped him in his arms he felt like he needed it more than anything else. 

“I won’t tell him,” Lance said, quietly into his ear, and Keith felt relief.“But I don’t think you’re giving Shiro enough credit.Or the rest of us.We’re a team.We go into battle together.All of us care about you, and all of us are here for you.Even if you aren’t exactly the person Shiro thinks you are.”

“I haven’t told him about my mom,” Keith said.“It’s only you and the princess.”

“I won’t tell him,” Lance said again.He pulled away and Keith worried that he shouldn’t have brought up his Galra mother, but Lance’s smile said otherwise.

“You know, you’re right,” Lance said.“About my family.At the same time… There’s this thing with ADHD.Rejection sensitivity.It isn’t the same, but I feel like I know how you feel.I panic sometimes when I think…It’s hard not being what your family wants you to be, there’s this panic, but like, there’s a difference between what I feel and what I know.I know my family’s still behind me, or, I mean at this point they probably think I’m dead.”His voice hitched at that part.“But they would be, if they knew, I know they’d always have my back.But Keith?We’re here with you, okay?I sort of realized a while ago that you’ve always had my back, even when we didn’t get along.Heck, you stormed Galran High Command for me.I guess it’s hard not to look out for each other when we go into battle together.Just, you know, no matter what, I’ve got yours.”

Keith nodded, squashing any dangerous hope that maybe Lance could see him as something more than just a teammate in this lifetime while simultaneously fuming at the reminder of what the empire had done to him.Lance always talked of Kieth rescuing him as something that Kieth had actually done, and it always made Kieth feel inadequate; because in the end, he hadn’t.

Lance slung an arm around his shoulder then as they walked on towards the barracks and Keith just let himself enjoy it.Keith didn’t think he could talk to Shiro about any of it, but it felt good to think that maybe he didn’t have to be the Paladin Shiro wanted him to be.Lance’s arm around his shoulder made him feel warm, and not for the first time, and not for the last, Keith fell in love with his soulmate all over again.

They got to the barracks and Keith felt Lance wince when one of the soldiers interrupted a holo chat with his family at their arrival.Lance handled the briefing, giving and soliciting pointers for how the mission would go.Katolliss and Erriss, the team leads for Alpha and Bravo had plenty of their own input and they had an agreement for how the next morning’s mission was going to go. 

“Are you alright?” Keith asked.Lance had been melancholicsince they’d left the barracks.

“I just miss them,” Lance said.

Keith reached out, something he wasn’t used to, and put his own arm around Lance.He definitely preferred lifetimes where he was the taller, but it was still nice to feel Lance lean into it.That he accepted Keith’s attempts at comfort. 

Suddenly his personal comm came to life in his ear.“Pidge to Keith, what happened to getting to dinner on time?”

“Um, sorry, things ran on a bit,” Keith said.“I’ll have him there in just a moment.”

“What’s up?” Lance said.

“Nothing?” Keith said.Lance narrowed his eyes at him and Keith quickly looked somewhere else.He wasn’t very good at lying in general and definitely bad at lying to Lance.“Um…”

“Oh my god,” Pidge was still on his comm.“Just get him here.”

“On our way,” Keith said, closing the channel.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked, looking worried.

“Nothing,” Keith said.“It’s time for dinner.”

Lance didn’t look convinced.He looked worried.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

“Nothing,” Lance said.That was a lie, because his hand was trembling.

“You’re worried about something,” Keith said.

“I always am,” Lance said.

“Yeah, but you’re worried about something specific right now,” Keith said.

“You guys want to have a talk with me,” Lance said.“About how I’ve been.”

“No, that’s-” Keith knew he couldn’t keep it a secret any longer.“Why would we do that?It’s your birthday.It’s a surprise birthday party.”

“What?” Lance asked.

“Not like a jump out in your face surprise party,” Keith said.“Um, we figured you wouldn’t like that, but a surprise as in you didn’t know about it before hand.”

“Oh,” Lance said.

“No one’s upset with you,” Keith said.

“It’s my birthday,” Lance said and suddenly there were tears in his eyes and somehow Keith had messed up a lot worse than he’d thought.He knew what Lance would do though and he pulled him into a hug. 

“Um…”

“I didn’t even remember,” Lance said.“I… What are they… What are they even thinking right now?I should have… I called her, after we left the Garrison.I acted like everything was fine.I should have told her.I could have at least… ”

Keith didn’t know, and he didn’t know what to tell Lance, it wasn’t a problem that was just going to go away with some bit of advice.Lance cried and Keith held him, and when Lance calmed down he pulled away and wiped his eyes. 

“I guess we have a party to get to,” Lance said.

“You don’t have to,” Keith told him.

“The morale officer does not miss his own birthday party, even if he forgot what day it is and cried about it.”

Keith remembered what Lance had said about being sensitive to rejection.

“You know we’re not replacing you, right?” Keith said.

“More like you can’t replace me,” Lance said.He didn’t say it like the boast it might have otherwise been.

“We wouldn’t ever want to,” Keith said, his arm going back around Lance’s shoulder as they walked the rest of the way to the smaller dining room next to the Paladin quarters.

True to what Keith had said, no one jumped out and yelled surprise when they walked in.There was a cake on the table with unlit candles, a lot of foods that Coran didn’t often let them eat, and the core of Team Voltron gathered around the table.Lance, of course, acted surprised and he gushed over the food on the table.

“Wait a minute you guys,” Lance said.“When Keith commed you earlier, that was because you were in here getting ready?”

“Had to run down to the Lion’s bay,” Hunk said.“And trust Shiro to get the cake out of the oven on time.”

“This is perfect, thank you,” Lance said. 

“Also there was never any third mission for today,” Pidge said.

“Oh wow, you really did get me there,” Lance said.He turned towards Keith.“So I guess you were my distraction.Wait, what about tomorrow’s mission?”

“No, that was real,” Shiro said.“Keith can brief me later, I think the birthday boy sits at the head of the table.”

“Ah ah, not a boy anymore,” Lance said.“I am the birthday man.”

Lance was turning eighteen.

“Well, that doesn’t sound right,” Pidge said.

“Whatever you are, go ahead and have a seat,” Coran said.“And do remember that there is some very nutritious foods accompanying the rest of your fare.”

“Thanks Coran, I’ll be fighting fit tomorrow morning,” Lance said.“Hey wait, is it even my birthday?Does time travel count?”

“Well, on Earth it is the day you were born,” Hunk said.“So it is your birth day, and your body hasn’t aged any more than that, so I’m going to vote that it is in fact your birthday.”

“For the purposes of this party, at least,” Shiro said.

“So tell us more about your birthday traditions,” the princess said.

“Yeah,” Hunk said.“Wasn’t sure if I was missing something.”

“Oh,” Lance said. “I mean this is all great.Um, the cake is right on, the streamers, really,” he said, turning towards Pidge.“It’s not that different from an American birthday party as I understand it.Some different foods.Did you have piñatas at your parties?”

“Matt did once, and I clocked someone with the stick,” Pidge said.“For some reason we never had one again.”

“Piñatas are colorful cardboard containers dangled from a string and filled with candy,” Hunk supplied for the Alteans.“The kids get blindfolded and take turns whacking it with a stick until it breaks open.It’s mostly for children though.”

“I could get pretty competitive with one,” Lance said.

“Of course you would,” Hunk said.

“There was one thing with the cake Mamá used to do when we were younger.There’d be these plastic decorations on top.Each kid would pull one off and one of them would have a candy stuck to the bottom.They’d get a prize.Perhaps you’ll tell us some of your traditions from Altea,” Lance said.

The princess brightened at that, and so did Coran.He always loved talking about Altea, as if it wasn’t gone forever. 

There were dishes on the table that Keith was pretty sure didn’t exist anywhere else, considering it was Hunk’s attempt to recreate cuban dishes with alien ingredients.Lance seemed relaxed and Keith thought he was enjoying himself considering that he had been crying not long before.All in all, for Keith, it was the most fun he’d had at a party before or after making it into space, at least in this lifetime.

Eventually the food was eaten and Pidge proved that Lance was right about her being a gremlin, because she pulled out her Bayard to light the candles on top of the cake.

“A toast,” Shiro said.“To the birthday _man._ You have grown so much since you got here, and I’m not talking about that half an inch your helmet gives you.You’ve matured faster than anyone has any right to expect from a seventeen year old boy, and you’ve brought a great deal of skill and insight to this team.In this field, we don’t keep track of who’d be dead if not for whom, because we all owe each other our lives, but you more than any of us have persevered to keep your teammates, and indeed several solar systems worth of people, alive.I am glad to serve with you and hope to serve with you by my side until the empire has been defeated.To Lance!”

“Here here,” Pidge said.

“I’m here as long as you’ll have me,” Lance said.

“We’ll have you,” Keith said, remembering Lance’s worries.

“Always,” the princess said.

“You aren’t leaving me behind here,” Hunk said.

“You’ve got some promises to keep,” Pidge said.“And I won’t trust anyone else for it.”

“Who would help me scrub the legnite reactor?” Coran said.

Lance looked happy, for all that they had all just told him he would be in that hellish war till the end.“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Lance said.

They had Lance teach them the birthday song his family sang and they all sang it before Lance blew out the candles.After that they decided there was time for an episode of some Antedian game show where contestants completed a rather extreme obstacle course, before the Alteans left to get back to their duties.While Lance was trying to work out some version of ‘pin the tale on the donkey’ with Hunk, Pidge pulled Keith aside.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“You could tell?” Keith asked.He’d thought Lance had been very convincing.“I had to tell him.He knew something was up, he thought we were planning to gang up on him because he has PTSD.”

“That’s why he was crying?” Pidge asked, wincing.“He doesn’t really think that does he?”

Keith shrugged.Deciding not to tell her that that wasn’t really why Lance had been crying.That had been a private moment between them and there wasn’t anything Pidge could do to fix it… unless.

“Is there any way we could call Earth?” Keith asked.

“We could send a message, they wouldn’t be able to respond,” Pidge said.“Believe me, I’ve thought about it.Besides, unless we wanted to broadcast for the Garrison to hear, I’d need to hack into the grid if we were going to make a direct call to someone and want it to stay private, and for that I’d need to be within range for instantaneous communication.”

“I figured,” Keith said.

“He’s homesick,” Pidge said.It wasn’t a question.Lance was the most open about missing home.

“I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who isn’t,” Keith said.

Pidge nodded.

“Okay Keith,” Lance hollered.He was being spun around by Hunk and there was a blindfold over his eyes and a hastily drawn donkey pinned to the wall.“Try to beat this.”

Hunk released him and they watched Lance stumble around a bit while they all shouted instructions at him on where he should go.Eventually he stabbed his arm forward and pulled off the blindfold with his other hand. 

“That would be his hoof,” Keith observed.

“Okay,” Lance said.“Well I’d like to see you do better.”

It couldn’t be anything but a challenge, but Lance was looking to him before anyone else.

“Just you watch hotshot,” Keith said.

It was Lance’s birthday, if anyone asked, he’d tell them he let him win.

* * *

Keith stayed behind after the party to go over the next morning’s operation with Shiro.He kept thinking about what Lance had said, but he didn’t say anything to Shiro.It left him feeling guilty.He told Shiro all who had come up with what parts of the plan.Shiro told him he’d done a good job.Keith felt guilty.Shiro told him that after all the food they’d eaten he was looking forward to their workout together the next morning, and the ‘together’ made him feel better.

Keith headed to his bunk and found Lance leaving Pidge’s quarters.

“Where are you staying tonight?” Keith asked.Lance didn’t like to spend the night alone and spent most nights in Hunk’s quarters.

Lance took a deep breath.“My quarters,” he said decisively.

“You don’t have to,” Keith said. 

“I know,” Lance said.“But I can, and I think I should.”

“You can wake me if you need to,” Keith said.

“Thanks,” Lance said.“No reason for you to miss sleep though.”

“Oh,” Keith said.“Um, being half alien, I sort of only need half the sleep.”

“Really?” Lance asked.“I knew you were an early riser, but that’s something.”

“I never get more than four hours,” Keith said.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Lance said.

“It’s been good since I left the Garrison and no one was interested in keeping me in my room all night.”

“Well there’s that then,” Lance said.“Hey, um, thanks for everything today.I’m guessing spa day wasn’t actually your idea of relaxation.”

“It was Hunk’s idea,” Keith said.“But it was fun.We should do it again.”

Lance beamed at that.“Great.We’ll make time.Well, anyway, this Paladin actually does need his eight hours of beauty sleep, so…”

Lance was already beautiful.

“Good night,” Keith said.“Um, just, you don’t need to hide it if you’re upset about something, like with your family.”

“Oh, hah hah, yeah, um, I know,” Lance said.“Good night.”

With that they parted ways.Lance never did wake him up.

* * *

Shiro had taken to talking to Lance every morning right before missions started.Lance appreciated the reassuring words.After the time loops it had become difficult before a mission started.There was anxiety, not so much centered around the possibility that people would be hurt, but around the fact that Lance had no future knowledge.That every action of the enemy would be a surprise.Shiro was probably also checking to make sure Lance wouldn’t be a liability on the mission, but the reassurances were nice.

Shiro patted him on the shoulder as a parting gesture.“Now go out there and surprise the hell out of the Galra.”

“Oh they won’t even see me coming,” Lance said, giving a cocky salute as he stepped back and spun around towards Blue.Shiro’s reassurances were nice, but they had nothing on Blue, who was always there in his mind, whose love he could feel when he walked up the ramp, who would stay close while he was in the tower.

The mission that day was difficult, going from the bottom had always been the easiest option, but this plan avoided any civilian casualties and that was what was important.The people of the world their operation was on had submitted themselves to Galran rule generations ago, and while it had kept most of them alive, their planet wasn’t doing great.They weren’t there to liberate anyone though.Though not a heavily fortified planet, the Galra were heavily entrenched and any liberation would require a coordinated attack and a simultaneous mass uprising from the people.The strike team was raiding a data hub while fleet ships flew around the globe dropping flyers and broadcasting revolutionary material.

For all that the mission was difficult and bloody, it was quick and they left the system less than an hour after they dropped in.Lance stopped by the infirmary where Arven and Stabil were being treated for fairly minor wounds.Katolliss was there and after confirming that they’d both get themselves a hardy lunch, he walked with Katolliss back to the barracks.Fortunately, though the team had done well, no one had stood out such that a public shaming was required to deflate any egos.It was nice when they could just celebrate a hard won victory.

After lunch there were two raids planned, but it was only Voltron that was going, with a couple of Nang’ok ships to provide backup if needed.The first one went well, it was well guarded, but Voltron slipped through quickly and destroyed the repair depot and was gone before the Galra could mount a defense.The second raid was the opposite.They tried to be random but they also had to be strategic, and the Galra had started to catch on to the types of targets they went after.Every now and then the Galra would be lucky and one of their surprises would be waiting for Voltron. 

Just like the abomination on Arusia, there was some sort of behemoth cyborg monster waiting for them when they arrived in the asteroid belt that Galran ships had been pulling key alloys from.Keith had actually hissed out a couple of curses when they got close, somehow sensitive to the “corrupted quintessence.” Worse, it got in-between them and their exit wormhole and they’d had to call in to have Allura close it, lest the thing get at the fleet.A single shot from one of those had been shown to be able to cripple if not outright destroy all but the strongest of the ships in their fleet. 

The Nang’ok ships kept their distance, but timed their fire on the robeast to give Voltron a shot to regroup as needed.Then the Galran cruisers that had been within the asteroid belt had come out and attacked the Nang’ok, and the two ships were instantly outclassed.

“Break up,” Shiro said.“Take out those cruisers, but keep them in between you and the robeast.”

Voltron split apart and Lance went after two of the cruisers with Keith while Hunk got over the aft of one of the Nang’ok ships where damage was already piling up.He gave them time to turn the ship to show the cruisers a stronger side.The second ship was in a similar position but they had already lost maneuvering thrusters.Lance commed them to warn them he was giving them a push.

It was a game of keep away between the Nang’ok, and the Robeast, and Voltron, using the cruisers as shields.The robeast, it seemed, only cared about getting to Voltron, and one of the cruisers went down under it’s fire.It was a chaotic few minutes until they were able to reform Voltron, with the cruisers disabled, and the Nang’ok able to withstand the remaining fighters.They drew the robeast away and it was an exhausting battle to take it out. 

“We’ve got more cruisers headed our way,” Pidge said when it was all over. 

“How many?” Shiro asked. 

“Four,” Pidge said. “We’ve got ten minutes.”

“Princess Allura, we need an exit,” Shiro said.“Captains, are your ships fit to go through a wormhole?”

“We are able to depart,” Captain Tel-Nat said.

“Our ship will not make it through in this condition, Admiral,” Captain Mar’den said.“And we will not be able to depart before the ships arrive.All hands are prepared to evacuate to escape pods.”

“Princess Allura?” Shiro asked.

“Coran called an all-hands as soon as you made contact with the Robeast,” Allura said.“If the Galra want a fight, we have twenty ships that are ready to go through.”

The fleet always took damage when they engaged the Galra, and that morning had been no exception, which was why they generally only had one mission per day that involved the fleet as a whole so that repairs could be made.They would only be sending through ships that were fully repaired or otherwise undamaged.

“Captain Tel-Nat,” Shiro said.“Take your ship through.Captain Mar’den, can you evacuate within four doboshs?”

“Three shall suffice,” Captain Mar’den said.

“Go,” Shiro said, “But there’s no need to lose this ship.”

“Perhaps you shall walk her decks with me when this is over,” Captain Mar’den said as pods started ejecting from his ship.

Voltron guarded their retreat, and while they were still united, Lance could feel everyone else’s anxiety as their allies retreated and more ships from the fleet flew in to guard the now abandoned ship.Four cruisers were no match for Voltron, but the defenseless Nang’ok ship would be easy pickings without help from the fleet.

The cruisers dropped out of FTL and surrounded them as well as they could, keeping their distance while they unloaded their fighters.Voltron didn’t give them any quarter though and they shot forward towards the closest cruiser to their downed ship as soon as they were in their sights.The fleet stayed tight and focused on the fighters while Voltron engaged with the cruisers. 

“Hold up,” Pidge said.“The ship to the aft is a broadcast ship!”

Broadcast ships had arenas.The fights onboard were broadcast across the galaxy with whatever prisoners the ship had picked up in its travels, and Pidge kept a registry of all the cruisers that they knew kept prisoners on them. 

“Take out engines, weapons, and reactor,” Shiro said.“Admiral Tanglin, we’re going to need a boarding party.”

After the other cruisers were destroyed and the broadcast ship was disabled, it became a waiting game.They refused to surrender, of course.Voltron split up and Shiro used his Lion to rip a hole into the hull so that a Plynthion boarding party could have a quick entry.Blue growled lowly in his head as Lance’s anxiety spiked, waiting for word from the boarding party.It wasn’t a Strike Team mission though, so it was being run by a Plynthion ground captain and Lance just had to wait for word to trickle down. 

Fifteen prisoners were rescued, and one member of the boarding party went home in a body bag.It had happened before, it would happen again, and Lance took a while to convince himself he didn’t have to feel guilty that he hadn’t been able to prevent it. 

At the end of it they were all exhausted but they couldn’t call it a day yet.With the fleet split and part of it guarding a damaged ship in an area the Empire for sure knew where they were, nothing was really over.The five Paladins pulled guard duty while repairs were made and the damaged ship could be towed through a wormhole.Smaller ships flew through the debris collecting parts of the destroyed cruisers; even the smaller shards of energy crystals were in high demand, and Pidge always wanted any data storage that survived the destruction. 

Still, guard duty was guard duty, and Lance found himself supremely bored, and then found himself thinking about things that got him down.It was something he was working on with his therapist.Blue brushed against his mind, an encouraging feeling.Encouraging him to reach out to the people he loved.Love was at the core of their bond.Also, his therapist had told him to talk to people when he got caught up in his own head.

“Hey Hunk,” Lance said.“So tell me how you’re going to make me an invisible sharpshooter.”

“Okay,” Hunk said.“First of all…”

* * *

Hours later, when it was very late, after Lance had eaten Plynthion field rations in Blue, they were able to get the fleet all together and the Paladins were able to land and the debrief was kept quick.The two damaged ships had been lucky, there hadn’t been any fatalities onboard, though both Nang’ok ships had taken several casualties and a few crew members had been evacuated to Ocaampa for emergency treatment.There was a moment of silence for the Plynthion soldier from the boarding party, and a notice of the loss was broadcast to the fleet.Her name had been Mixala and a Galran blaster to the head had made sure she couldn’t be revived by the Ocaampans.Lance had started his after action reports while he was still pulling guard duty and he rushed through the rest and left to get to bed.

It wasn’t anything in particular, or perhaps it was just a bunch of things, but Lance just felt generally shitty by the time he got to his quarters.A shower helped.Still though, he was always encouraged to be proactive about his mental health and he wound up calling his therapist on Ocaampa while the wormhole was open to bring back the recently healed.

“What symptoms are you experiencing today, Lance,” his therapist, Telnath, greeted.

“Depression, anxiety, a couple of flashbacks last night, more trouble focusing than usual,” Lance said, placing the scanner he’d been giving against his temple.

Telnath looked at his computer.He looked at his computer a lot more than he looked at Lance.

“There has been a large stressor affecting you,” Telnath said.

“A couple of difficult battles today,” Lance said.“There was a death in the fleet.”

“Your flashbacks preceded this though, did they not?” Telnath said.

“Oh, yeah, um, yesterday was pretty good actually,” Lance said.“We celebrated my birthday, and I got some time off to spend with my friends.”

“You experienced joy?”

“Yeah, of course,” Lance said.

“In how your brain is structured, joy and sorrow are closely linked,” Telnath said.“It is easy to transition from joy to sorrow.”He did have a way of making Lance’s own psychology simple to understand.

“Yeah,” Lance said.“It was difficult to celebrate without my family.It’s been so long since I’ve seen them, or had any contact with them really.The way we left Earth… I’m worried they think I’m dead.I just disappeared from school.”

“Your family is at the core of a lot of your motivations,” Telnath observed.

“Of course,” Lance said.“I love them, I’m fighting for them, and I miss them. God, I miss them.”

“Then you should reunite with them,” Telnath said.

Lance felt a spike of hope when he said that, but brought himself back down quickly.Telnath was right about great joy easily crossing over into sorrow.

“It isn’t really an option right now,” Lance said.

“It is my recommendation as your therapist,” Telnath said.

Lance’s tablet pinged letting him know Allura was about to close the wormhole.

“I’ve got to go,” Lance said.

“I will send instructions to you,” Telnath said.“And I will message your commander with your permission.”

“Sure,” Lance said.“But-" The transmission cut out with the wormhole.

Lance went and did his rounds, checking in with Pidge and Keith and Hunk.

“How are you doing?” Lance asked Pidge.“There’s no way you aren’t as exhausted as me.”

“Actually, you may not be aware of this, but I didn’t storm a Galran facility this morning,” Pidge said.“Someone made me stay in my Lion.”

“I got you your data,” Lance said.

“Which I appreciate,” Pidge said.“Though I’ve got a ton to go through now.”

No use telling her that she had her own team to do that for her.

“Anything?” Lance asked.

“No,” Pidge huffed.“Nothing about prisoners and nothing about any Telerium mines.Plenty of other stuff though.”

“Pretty sure you have people on night shift who can process it for you,” Lance said, trying anyway.

They probably already were, but Pidge didn’t like giving up control.

“Yeah,” Pidge said.“But they probably would have missed the best bit of intelligence I found in here.”

“Oh yeah?” Lance asked.“What’ve you got?”

“Looks like the Empire’s got a top secret project going called ‘Eetmaah.’”

“What’s Eetmaah?” Lance asked, before his brain caught up to the very non-Galran sounding word and what it sounded like in English. 

“Eat ma shorts,” they both said at the same time.

Lance ruffled Pidge’s hair and admonished her not to stay up too late, since it still had been a very long day for her as well.By the time he got back to his bunk his tablet had received Telnath’s FTL message with his instructions.First item on the list was not spending the night alone, followed on with some things for him to meditate on before he went to bed and finally instructions to use his pulse emitter for that night and to avoid his ADHD meds the following morning.The pulse emitter was pretty basic technology, and Lance was pretty sure something like it existed on Earth, but like everything the Ocaampans did, this was highly tailored to Lance’s specific brain and needs.Like the scanner, it went on his temple and using whatever results the scanner had sent his therapist it would send minor pulses through his head targeting specific areas while he slept, stimulating some and lowering activity in others.

Lance thought about where he wanted to spend the night and decided that Hunk’s snoring wouldn’t help him meditate, even though it was oddly comforting, reminding him he wasn’t alone.He was also hoping Pidge would actually use her bed that night, and Shiro was probably still dealing with the fleet, so Lance commed Keith.

“Are you alright?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, um,” Lance said.“Can we do a sleepover?It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s alright,” Kieth said. 

“Thanks,” Lance said.“I’ll be over in a bit.”He went through his nightly rituals getting ready for bed, took his meds, grabbed a pillow and his futon and then went next door to Keith’s.

“Thanks again,” Lance said.

“Any time,” Keith said.“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Lance said.“It’s just the doctors orders.”

Keith nodded.

“I know I said sleepover, but I’m supposed to get all my sleep, so…”

“No, yeah,” Keith said.“I’m ready to sleep myself.”

Lance unrolled his futon. 

“You don’t need to sleep on the floor,” Keith said.

“I’m not kicking you out of your bed,” Lance said.

“Oh, no,” Keith said.“Um, it’s big enough for two…But that’s… I understand.Sleep wherever you want.”

Lance eyed the bed.It really was big enough for two.He remembered being in his cell the first day Matt had been there, when they’d first huddled up together for warmth and comfort.For a moment he thought the memory would take him somewhere he didn’t want to go, but just then it was a comforting memory.He missed Matt, but he was so grateful that that timeline had been erased.

“Yeah,” Lance said.“Better than the futon.”

Keith got into bed first and Lance was horrified but not terribly surprised to find he slept with his clothes and his boots on.

“I was going to warn you about my cold feet, but I guess you won’t have to worry about that,” Lance said.

Keith looked down at his feet, and then back up at Lance.Whatever was happening behind his dark blue eyes, Lance couldn’t tell, but eventually he shucked his boots and got under the covers.Lance knelt besides the bed and realized, belatedly that he’d never prayed in front of Keith before.Feeling Keith’s eyes on him, he closed his own and focused on God.

“Heavenly father,” Lance prayed.“Thank you for keeping us safe today, for the food we ate, and the air we breathed.Thank you for our friends who heal us and my friends who comfort me.Please watch over the fleet tonight and keep us out of Galran sight.Please guide the souls of our enemies towards your love and the souls of those who were killed today to your embrace.Mixala died today freeing prisoners and I pray that her soul is at rest.I pray that you look over my family, here on this ship and at home on Earth, that they are safe and comforted and with you always.Please continue to guide me through this struggle.”

There were a lot of things he used to include in his prayers that he didn’t anymore.A lot of things that were done by rote that he couldn’t see the point of anymore.Lance thought a moment on the things he left out and then opened his eyes and got up from besides the bed. He slipped between the sheets and lay down next to Keith.He hoped he hadn’t just made things awkward.

“Have a good night,” Lance said.

“Good night, Lance,” Keith said.

Lance put the pulse emitter on his temple, closed his eyes, and focused on his breathing for a while, clearing his mind, focusing on sensations rather than thoughts, the feel of the sheets rubbing slightly against his pajamas as his chest rose and fell, the feeling of his head cushioned in his pillow, the feeling of the body heat radiating from besides him.He focused on that for a while and then he went through the exercises his therapist had given him until he fell asleep.

* * *

Between the Ocaampan device and the company Lance slept well.He was surprised to find that Keith hadn’t left in the middle of the night.

“Sorry.You didn’t have to,” Lance said, blushing red.“You could have pried me off.”

He really hoped in that moment that Keith had been exaggerating and he hadn’t spent four hours lying in bed just so he wouldn’t wake Lance up.

“I’ve got your back,” Keith said.More like Lance had been latched onto his.He must have picked that up from his time with Matt.

“Yeah, you do,” Lance said.His adventure with the chronotons had taught him that Keith always had his back.

“Shiro commed me earlier,” Keith said.

“Wondering where his workout buddy went?”

“Something like that,” Keith said.“Wanted me to let you know he was going to pair up with you during calisthenics.”

“Good to know,” Lance said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.“I’ll let you get ready.Thanks again.”

“Any time,” Keith said.

“By the way,” Lance said.“If your face is normally a bit red in the morning, you can try moisturizing before you go to bed.”

“Right,” Keith said.“I’ll try that.”

Lance left to go back to his own quarters where he washed his face and got into his workout clothes. 

“You look rested,” Pidge said, when Lance met her outside her room.

“And you look like you stayed up late,” Lance said, a bit disappointed since he’d thought she would get some sleep.

“I had an idea,” Pidge said.“We’ve been looking for the top of the supply chain, but what if we need to be looking for the bottom?”

“For tellurium?” Lance asked.

“Yeah,” Pidge said.“Figure out where the end products are going and then trace it back from there.” 

“You’ll have to show me what you’ve got this evening,” Lance said.

The Strike Team was already on the training deck doing their own thing when they got there, and Keith had beaten Lance and was already huddled with Shiro off to the side.A bit later, Hunk arrived and they started their morning workout.Since their first visit to the Ocaampans, they’d decided on a more tailored workout routine, so everyone had their own goals and workouts.There was a lot of overlap though, so Lance joined Shiro on the pull up bars for climbing drills.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Lance asked, jumping up to grab the bars.

“I did,” Shiro said, getting behind him.“I got a message from your therapist.”

“Oh,” Lance said.“Sorry, I know that’s not really an option right now.”

“I’m not sure it isn’t,” Shiro said.“We need Earth, and we also need our families.”

“I thought we were keeping Earth out of it,” Lance said.

“We said we’d protect Earth, but we can’t make the decision for them whether they’re involved in the fight for their own existence.”

“The fight doesn’t ever have to go there, though,” Lance said.He’d hold the Galra back with everything he had.Even if he had to break into some Ocaampan lab and get himself blasted with chronotons again so failure really wouldn’t be an option.

“Earth has a lot of things we need,” Shiro said.

This wasn’t something Lance had ever considered because he hadn’t ever wanted to.The advantages of Earth were sort of obvious though.Far away from any front line, though only compared to all of their other allies, a large population and workforce, soldiers and pilots and crewmen already training for space, and a solar system full of resources for shipbuilding.There were few fighter pilots in the fleet.The Sif and Nang’ok had left that skill behind some ages past, the Plynthions couldn’t keep up with Galran fighters, and most of the Kormian fighter pilots had been killed in the early days of their war against the Galra, before Voltron had shown up.The vast majority of the fighter pilots in the fleet were Antedians and there just weren’t enough of them.Earth could really make a difference there.

“Some of those advantages might make them reticent to join in the first place,” Lance said.His arms started quaking as he struggled to go up again and he bent his legs behind him so Shiro could grab his ankles and take some of the weight off as Lance kept going. 

“I’m considering that,” Shiro said.“It isn’t just about strengthening the alliance with a new member.The fact that the core of Voltron is keeping their own world out of the fight is a bone of contention for some of our allies.You let me worry about that though, I have an assignment for you.”

That peaked Lance’s interest, and if it had been possible to preen while doing pull ups, Lance would have done so.“What do you need?”

“We know full well that the Garrison was covering up the existence of the Galra, and I definitely want to manage how we reveal to the world that aliens exist and that there’s an interstellar war for the fate of the galaxy.That’s for me to worry about.I want you to figure out how we can contact families and get them to the castle in secret.Work out a proposal and get it to me by twenty hundred in two days.”

“Left and right limits?” Lance asked, as he stopped struggling and let himself hang while he tried to catch his breath.

“Nothing much,” Shiro said, releasing Lance’s ankles so he could let go of the bar.“We’re going to be violating various airspaces but minimize any law breaking.Also, assume the Garrison has our families under some sort of observation.We don’t want them to know that they’ve been in contact with us.”

“How far do you think they’d go?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know,” Shiro said.“And that’s what worries me.”

Lance nodded as Shiro reached up for the bar.Since he had a mechanical arm, Shiro only did single arm pull-ups, and he could do an impressive number of those before Lance needed to assist him.They moved on to push-up sit-up drills next before finishing with more climbing drills, and then when they were all of them exhausted they moved on to combat drills.In combat, you couldn’t really do anything unless you could do it when you had already reached your limit.Shooting with a high degree of accuracy was difficult when you were huffing for breath and your arms felt like jello. 

There wasn’t any shooting that day; they were sparring in close quarters combat.Hunk was the reigning champion, though that might be because Shiro never sparred with any of them in any of their actual combat trainings.He’d give pointers and demonstrate moves, but he never actually sparred against anyone other than the droids the training deck provided. 

Their workout wouldn’t affect their missions, of course.The Ocaampans had worked something out for the various species of the alliance to quickly flush out the lactic acid or whatever else that built up in their muscles during exercise. By the time they’d cleaned up, eaten breakfast, and gotten their morning briefs, they would be ready for the rest of the day.

That evening Lance got together with Pidge and asked her a bunch of questions about Earth technology and what the Alliance had that could bypass it.He hadn’t wanted to get anyone’s hopes up about visiting home, but surprisingly, Pidge was happy to talk about Earth security and didn’t seem to think it weird that Lance was asking.Afterwards he went to pick Coran’s brain for a bit.Then he remembered what Hunk had said about holograms a couple of days prior, so he went to go talk to him for a while.Hunk wasn’t as oblivious as Pidge and he definitely knew Lance was up to something.Hunk was like that.

“Just one more night,” Lance told Keith.“And you totally don’t need to stay all night.You can do your thing in the morning.”

“Any time,” was all Keith said.Keith was pretty awesome like that.

The next day Lance chewed on his assignment and missed a bit of the briefing, but Keith never had that sort of trouble so he filled Lance in.By the end of the day he thought he had a good idea of what they needed and then he wrote up his proposal when they were done for the day.Shooting it off to Shiro, he went and had dinner with Keith and Hunk, had a debate about which fleet ship was most like a Battlestar, and then grabbed some food to find Pidge. 

“You’re just enabling her,” Hunk said, not sounding too serious about it.

“Hey, I want cool cloaking tech on my lion,” Lance said.

“We’re getting there,” Hunk said.

“So what about sonar?” Lance asked.

“The lions are already invisible to radar,” Hunk said.“Sort of like a stealth jet.”

“So could Earth detect them?” Lance asked.

“Is that what you’re up to?” Hunk asked.

“I’m just curious,” Lance said.“This is cool stuff.”

Hunk shrugged.“Probably not,” he said.“Assuming we aren’t transmitting with anything other than FTL.”

“Wasn’t the Garrison picking up the Galra’s FTL comms?” Lance asked.

Hunk shook his head.“Their transmitters are sloppy, the signal bleeds out into the EM spectrum as it goes through space.That’s why we can pick them up but they can’t intercept ours.We try to keep FTL transmissions from the fleet to a minimum, but as far as we can tell the Galra can’t pick them up without a corresponding receiver.”

They entered the Lion’s bay where Pidge was working with some of the fleet engineers.

“I bring goo,” Lance proclaimed.

Pidge was already crunching on some Antedian fruit she’d had stashed somewhere.

“Thanks,” Pidge said, not looking up from her computer.

“Got any leads on your supply chain?” Lance asked.

“Yeah,” Pidge said.“But we’re going to need to do some legwork on this one.I already sent a couple of proposals to Shiro.”

“He’ll work them in,” Lance said.“But anyways, I have a task for you.”

“What’s up?” Pidge asked.

“How long to equip all of the Lions with the cloaking device as it is now?” Lance asked.

Pidge shrugged.“Tomorrow if I can get priority on the fabricators and a few more hands to run installs.”

“That’s it?” Lance asked.

“We’ve got the schematics for all the parts, and the coding.Just need to print it out,” Pidge said.“Some assembly required.”

“Don’t need it tomorrow,” Lance said.Shiro probably wasn’t going to scrub any missions they had in the queue.“Give me something to show Shiro in a few days.”

“That’s doable,” Pidge said.“So we’re going to Earth?”

“Nope,” Lance said.“It’s something else.”

He bothered Pidge for a bit longer and left with Keith while Hunk and Pidge huddled together over some schematics or something.

“We are going to Earth, right?” Keith asked.

“Probably,” Lance said.“I didn’t want to get their hopes up.” 

Keith was probably the only one who wasn’t terribly homesick.

“Where are you staying tonight?” Keith asked.

“Don’t worry,” Lance said.“I’m stay in my own bunk tonight.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Keith said.“So you’re feeling better?”

“Feeling pretty good,” Lance said.

“Because you’re going to see your family?” Keith asked.

“Family, friends, I’ve got a lot going for me right now,” Lance said.

“We’ve got some time,” Keith said.“Did you want to go, um, relax for a bit?”

“Sure.You know the one thing I haven’t been able to get in a long time?” Lance asked.“Just need to convince Shiro to give us shore leave on some planet with, you know, an actual shore.I’d do anything for a good swim right now.”

Keith stopped in his tracks.“What?”

“Well, maybe not anything,” Lance said.

“There’s a pool,” Keith said.

“What?” Lance asked.

“On the top deck,” Keith said.

“There’s a pool,” Lance said.

“Yes,” Keith said.

“On a spaceship,” Lance said.“A pool on a spaceship.”

“Yes,” Keith said.

“A pool on _this_ spaceship,” Lance said.

Keith nodded.

“That I’ve been living on for months,” Lance said.There were big entire sections of the ship that weren’t being used, but still.

Keith shrugged.“It never came up.I figured you knew.”

“I didn’t figure there’d be a swimming pool on a spaceship,” Lance said.“Wanna go swimming.”

“Um,” Keith said, seeming to shrink in on himself.

Lance gasped.“Do you know how to swim?”

Keith shook his head.For just a moment, Lance reveled in something he could do that Keith couldn’t, Keith though was always there for Lance, and Lance could not hold this over him.

“I can teach you,” Lance said.“I taught my Niece and Nephew.I was on the swim team at the Garrison.”

“I don’t have to learn how to swim,” Keith said.

“Remember the bog?” Lance asked.

“I wouldn’t have fallen in,” Keith insisted.

“You could have,” Lance said.It had been Lance that had fallen in.

“I would have used my thrusters,” Keith said.

“Regardless,” Lance said.“It’s a valuable skill.”

Keith seemed to think about something for a bit and flushed red.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed for not knowing.It’s okay for there to be some things I’m better at.Besides, I’m a good teacher.”

“I’m not embarrassed,” Keith said.

“So you’ll come to the pool with me?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded.

“Top deck?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded.

“I’ll see you there,” Lance said.“Bring you trunks… we don’t have trunks.Bring clean underwear that doesn’t have a loose waistband.We can print out some trunks tomorrow.”

Keith just nodded again, still wide eyed, as if he wasn’t sure what he had just agreed to.

Lance couldn’t help but grin.“Don’t be late,” he said.He broke off for his quarters to pick out something to swim in. 

With a lot of skills, Lance thought they were close, but Keith always seemed to be ahead at least a little.With combat stuff it wasn’t really comparable, their two different styles of fighting, but here at least, there was something for Lance to teach Keith. 

Picking out a pair of briefs, Lance wondered which of them would look better in swimwear.It would probably be Keith. 

* * *

Lance had a really weird dream about Keith that night.

* * *

“Why are you blushing?” Hunk asked.

“I’m not blushing,” Lance said. 

* * *

“What did he do now?” Pidge asked.

“Nothing,” Keith said.

* * *

“So we’re visiting Earth,” Lance announced after Shiro called him up during the morning brief.

“We know,” Pidge said.

* * *

There probably wasn’t a stakeout, they figured.If the Garrison ever had been monitoring their families, they’d probably stopped any direct surveillance after the first few months.Hunk had to keep reminding himself of that as he went through the unfamiliar city.He also reminded himself that looking around for a stakeout would be suspicious.The night he and Lance had left the Garrison they’d initially been planning to sneak out for a night on the town, so they’d had a fair bit of pocket money between them.Which was nice, because Hunk could hail a taxi and get out of the street.He even got a ride right up to the front door, where it wasn’t weird at all for a stranger to arrive.He walked into the lobby.

“Welcome to the Playa Dorada, are you checking in?” a women at the front desk asked.Lance had shown him a photo of his family and pointed everyone out.The woman at the front desk was Lance’s sister Carla.

“Hi,” Hunk said.“I’m not a guest, I’m a vendor.Is Roberto Sanchez around.”

“Have you been here before?” Carla asked.

Hunk shook his head.“We’re new.Palace Linens; a finer quality, for half the price.”

“Let me see if he’s available,” she said, turning around and entering a back office.She came back a moment later with an older women.Hunk recognized her as Lance’s Aunt Elena.

“Hello, my name’s Jackson Leeroy, I’m with Palace Linens. Do you have a moment? I have some samples and some pricing sheets.”

She gave him a shrewd look but shrugged.“My name is Elena Rodriguez.I don’t have much time, and we are very happy with our current vendor, but I can give you a minute and then I must get back to what I was doing.”

“You won’t regret it,” Hunk said, following her back into the office.

He looked down at his watch.No bugs detected.It hadn’t had to be a watch, but Lance had insisted they get spy watches.

They entered an office where a man Hunk recognized to be Lance’s brother Luis was going over something on the spread sheet.

“So,” Elena asked.“Why should we do business with a company that’s come in to undercut it’s competitors before raising prices in a few months.”

This got Luis’s attention, who looked up and grinned at his aunt.

“Well,” Hunk said. “When you see what I have to offer you won’t want to miss the opportunity, I don’t think.”He set his briefcase down on the desk and popped it open.He slid out the holoprojector he’d been given.“I should introduce myself properly, and then I have a message from our CEO.”

He reached up to the side of his neck and tapped the little device he was wearing.He saw the air in front of his face shimmer and heard gasps from Lance’s family.

“You’re that boy, his friend, Hunk!” Luis said. 

“Where’s Lance?” Elena demanded.“Where is he?”

Hunk had hoped to field at least one question about his disguise. 

“Don’t worry,” Hunk said.“He’s here on Earth.”

“Well where else would he be?” Elena asked.

“Um,” Hunk said and there was an awkward silence, because he hadn’t been planning to explain this part.

“No,” Elena said.“Are you here to tell me the Garrison sent my nephew to space in secret?”

“Well the Garrison didn’t,” Hunk said.“Here, I’ve got a message from Lance.”

“Mamá and Papá should be here,” Luis said.

“You call your Mamá,” Elena said, pulling out her own phone.

“Before long Lance’s parents, an aunt, an uncle, two grand parents, three siblings, and two cousins were crammed into the office with them, each one demanding to know where Lance was when they arrived.”

“Do your parents know where you are?” Lance’s mom asked.

“They will soon,” Hunk said.“Um, so I have a message from Lance.”

“Why can’t he tell us himself?” Lance’s brother, Marco asked.

“Short answer is that we’re worried the Garrison’s watching you,” Hunk said.“The long answer is right here.” 

He activated the holoprojector, and there was a life-size Lance.Hunk adjusted it so he wasn’t standing in the middle of a desk.There were some gasps from around the room but everyone quieted down when Lance started talking.

“You guys have no idea how much I’ve missed you, or, you probably do,” Lance’s recording said.“I’m so sorry I disappeared like that.Everything happened really quickly and secrecy was important.I know you have a lot of questions, but I’m not really recording this to answer all of them.I want to see you, but we don’t want the Garrison to know we’ve been in contact with our families.We’re all sort of going about getting each other’s families because no one would be expecting that.The point is, Hunk can bring you to me, but it needs to be in secret.He’ll have instructions.

“Anyway, I’ll tell you more when I see you, but the short of it is this: We found out what happened to the crew of the Heracles.More importantly,” Lance reached off screen and dragged Shiro into the projection with him.“This guy crash landed back on Earth after escaping from the aliens that had captured him.No, I’m not making that up.The Garrison tried to cover it up but a group of us helped him escape when the Garrison decided to silence him.Shiro told us the aliens, the Galra, were looking for something on Earth.They were violent and it was decided that we needed to find it before them and, well, we found it.It was a space ship and we flew it away from Earth to draw the aliens away.A lot’s happened since then, and I’ll tell you all about it soon.We can’t really stay right now, but I want to see you while we’re here.

“I’ve trusted Hunk with my life countless times, and I trust him to get you here safely.He’ll have all the details.Please come and see me if you can.We’ll have you back home before you know it.”

The projection winked out and there was a cacophony of conversation that immediately followed from most of the people in the room. 

“Enough,” Elena yelled.“One at a time.You,” she said, pointing a finger at Hunk.“This is all real?”

“Every bit of it,” Hunk said.“We’ve been pretty far away from Earth this whole time.”

“Running from these aliens,” Luis said.

“Something like that,” Hunk said.

“Is he safe?” Lance’s mom asked.

At the moment anyway?“Yes,” Hunk assured her, like he hoped Lance was assuring Hunk’s own family.

“Is Earth safe?” Marco asked.

“Earth’s isn’t too close to the front lines,” Hunk said.

“Front lines,” Lance’s Uncle Mateo said.“Front lines of a war?”

Lance was going to tell them about the war.

Hunk nodded.

“Is my son fighting in a war?” Lance’s mom asked.

“We all are,” Hunk said.

There was another cacophony.

“Why is he fighting if Earth isn’t in danger?” someone shouted over it, and the room quieted to hear his answer.

There were a lot of reasons.He wasn’t there to terrify Lance’s family though.

“The Galran Empire is always expanding.We’ve seen what they’ve done to other worlds, and we don’t want them anywhere near Earth.They’ll get here eventually if they aren’t stopped, so we need to stop them.”

“Why him?” Lance’s sister Carla asked.

Hunk didn’t think telling them it was somehow fate was going to cut it.“He’s actually made a huge difference,” Hunk said.“Lance wants to tell you this in person.Will you let me take you to him?”

“Where exactly are we going?” Lance’s dad asked.

“About halfway between Alpha Centauri and Sirius,” Hunk said.

“You want to take us to space?” Elena asked.“You said he was here on Earth.”

Hunk shrugged.“The less time we’re on Earth the better, for now.”

“How do we get there?” Lance’s mom asked.

So Hunk told them.He hoped the others were having an easier time than he was.

* * *

“Thanks for the cookies Mrs. Shirogane,” Pidge said.“I’ll see you two at the rendezvous in half an hour.”

* * *

Keith had never been threatened with a coatrack before, in any of his lifetimes he didn’t think, but he supposed he would have to add it to the list.

* * *

Lance liked the weather in Samoa, and the shore he had eyes on was tempting, but the pastry Mrs. Kilisi had been pulling out of the oven when he’d knocked on her door was heavenly.

* * *

“How can I help you,” the young man behind the receptionists desk asked.

“Is Geoffry Meadows still the Editor in Chief?” Shiro asked.

“He is,” the young man said.“I’m guessing you don’t have an appointment.”

“I don’t,” Shiro said.“But if you give him this I think he’ll want to see me.”Shiro handed over an envelope.

“Who can I say is here to see him?” the young man asked.

“I’d prefer to stay an anonymous source,” Shiro said.

The young man nodded as if this wasn’t an unusual request.“Just one moment please.”

Shiro eyed the bowl of candy on the counter.It had been a very long time since he’d had chocolate.Sure, the Plynthions had something similar, but it wasn’t the same.He wasn’t sure what he wanted his first chocolate experience since he had been on the Heracles to be.It was all the sort of stuff you’d see at halloween, miniature Milky Ways and Twix and the like.After carefully making his decision he pulled out an Almond Joy and snuck it into his coat pocket.

The receptionist came back in.“Mr. Meadows will see you now.”

“Thank you,” Shiro said, following him into the main office and through rows of cubicles.Geoffry Meadows was waiting for him outside the door to his office.

“Hello,” he said.“Welcome, come in, come in.Tea, coffee, water?”

Shiro waved him off.“Just some privacy,” he said.He looked at the watch on his wrist.There was a bug in the office, it indicated, but according to Pidge the device he’d been given could jam anything it could detect.He’d have to mention that before he left.

“I understand,” Mr. Meadows said.“We covered the story a while back.We couldn’t prove it wrong, but we ran the Garrison story back when it all happened and I never liked their version of events.Especially when we found out later that Pidge Gunderson was actually Kattie Holt.”

“What _was_ their version of events?” Shiro asked.“I’m afraid I was off world when you would have been covering it.”

“Off world,” Mr. Meadows said.“So you are with the Garrison then.”

“I was,” Shiro said.He pulled the little holo-emitter off of his neck and allowed his disguise to fade away.

“Oh my god,” Mr. Meadows said.

“My name’s Takashi Shirogane,” Shiro said.“I’m the one that took that picture a couple of days ago.”

The envelope he’d sent in lieu of any sort of credentials had contained a photo of Keith, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk together in their Altean styled formal wear.The note had just said, ‘I know what happened to the missing Galaxy Garrison Cadets.’

“Where have you been?” Mr. Meadows asked.“Your crew! Where have they been? Where have the Cadets been? Can I record this?Sorry, sorry, one question at a time.Can I record this?”

“Sure,” Shiro said.“But you won’t want to release any of this until you get the rest of it.”

“What’s the rest of it?” Mr. Meadows asked.

“Lets just say more proof than a dead Argonaut sitting in your office,” Shiro said.“I’ll get to that.”

He was expecting an audio recorder but Mr. Meadows set up a big camera on a tripod.

“Could you state your name for me one more time?” Mr. Meadows asked.

“Takashi Shirogane,” Shiro said.“I was a Lieutenant under the command of Commander Holt of the Galaxy Garrison and the pilot of the Heracles.”

“The Galaxy Garrison reported the destruction of the Heracles on the moon Kerberos,” Mr. Meadows prompted.

“It was destroyed,” Shiro said.“It was destroyed when Commander Holt, Ensign Holt, and I encountered an alien craft while we were beginning drilling on Kerberos.”

There was a pregnant pause after that statement.

“There were aliens on Kerberos,” Mr. Meadows said.

“I don’t think they ever landed,” Shiro said.“They pulled us into their ship with some sort of beam.We were separated and I was their prisoner for over a year.I managed to escape and pilot a ship back to Earth.Commander Holt and Ensign Holt are still missing, though we continue to look for them.”

“'We' as in?”

“Well, not the Garrison,” Shiro said.“I flew back to the Garrison base in Arizona.I tried to warn them that the aliens, the Galra, were coming and they decided to sedate me while I was trying to tell them what was going on.The ‘we’ are former Cadets Keith Kogane, Lance Sanchez, Aputi Kilisi, also known as Hunk, and Pidge Gunderson, also known as Kattie Holt.

“They busted me out.Pidge had already discovered that the Garrison had covered up alien involvement, she wrote up a report on that, here.” Shiro pulled out a data key.“The fact was that I’d come with a warning.The Galra were looking for something that had been hidden on Earth thousands of years ago.I knew the empire to be incredibly violent and ruthless and I had no desire for them to actually come to Earth.We found what they were looking for.It was a ship.An incredibly powerful ship, though it’s more than that.The Galra came looking for it, so we intercepted them and led them away from Earth.”

“Have you all been together since then?” Mr. Meadows asked.

“Yes, we’ve formed a bit of a team,” Shiro said.

“A team looking for Kattie Holt’s family?” Mr. Meadows asked.

“Among other things,” Shiro said.“The Empire aims to conquer the entire galaxy, and they already control the majority of it.We’re aiming to stop them before they can get to Earth.”

“You’re fighting them,” Mr. Meadows said.

“We’re at war with them,” Shiro said.“I told you, what we found was part of something greater.It’s called Voltron.Essentially it’s a weapon more powerful than anything the Galra can throw at us.It was scattered across the galaxy, and we found all of it.We’ve made allies and there is an allied fleet working to halt the Galran advance and turn them back.”

“That’s…” Mr. Meadows paused.“Lieutenant Shirogane, even with you sitting here now before me, a dead man lost on a moon at the edge of our solar system, this is all fairly incredible.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Shiro said.“I have a request, or an offer rather.And by the way, I’m not a Lieutenant in the Galaxy Garrison anymore, I’m an Admiral in the Voltron Alliance and I’d like to offer Vice News the opportunity to embed a journalist in an interstellar war.Also I didn’t come in off the street, I parked on the roof.Would you like to see one of the pieces of Voltron?”

* * *

Hettie Shirazi had been enjoying her vacation.She hadn’t gone anywhere.Going places was what she did for work.Vacation wasn’t so much about relaxing as it was about catching up on everything that had passed her by while she’d been on assignment, but it did offer her a bit of time to slow down.Hettie had been enjoying her vacation, but when Geoffry called her and asked her if she could have her bags packed and at the office in less than an hour she’d barely had time to say yes before she was jumping up to grab her things.Her bags were always packed.

The intern at the front desk waved at her when she got off the elevator. 

“What’s going on?” Hettie asked. 

“No idea,” the boy said.“Some anonymous source came in, they talked for a while, went out for ten minutes, and they’ve been locked up in there ever since.The chief said to send you in when you get here.”

Hettie nodded and made her way through to Geoffry’s office and tried the handle.It was locked but a moment later it opened a crack and Geoffry took a look at her before opening the door just a little bit more and ushering her in quickly.She took one look at Geoffry’s ‘anonymous source.’Hard for him to have any anonymity, more like infamy. 

“Holy shit,” Hettie said.

“Hettie,” Geoffry said.“What would you say if I told you there was an alien spaceship on our roof right now.”

“I think someone would have noticed,” Hettie said.

“It’s cloaked,” Takashi Shirogane said.

“I’ve been inside,” Geoffry said.“It’s like nothing on Earth.”

“You’re Takashi Shirogane,” Hettie said.

“You can call me Shiro,” Shiro said.

“Were there aliens aboard the alien spaceship?” Hettie asked Geoffry?

“I came alone,” Shiro said.

“Why am I here?” Hettie asked.

“There’s a war I’d like you to cover,” Takashi Shirogane said.

Hettie’s insides turned to ice.He’d said it so plainly, like he was asking her to cover a school board meeting.A war, as though humanity hadn’t collectively put that behind them, however imperfectly.

“What, a space war?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” Shiro said.

Hettie turned to Geoffry.“This isn’t real, right?This is some look alike.”

“I’d sleep better if I wasn’t, but I’ll be taking an Ambien tonight,” Geoffry said.“Obviously, this is your call if you want to go.”

None of this was making any sense. A war!Aliens?But Geoffry really wouldn’t do a prank like this, and if that really was Takashi Shirogane and there really was a war then Hettie would definitely be covering it.

“How long?” Hettie asked.

“One month,” Shiro said.

“That’s it?” Hettie asked.

“One month until we return to Earth,” Shiro said.“If you want continuing access after that, we can work it out then.”

“Where are we going?” Hettie asked.

“No part of the galaxy is necessarily off limits,” Shiro said.

“This is a war that spans the galaxy?” Hettie asked.

“Most of it,” Shiro said.

“Just me?” Hettie asked.

“Exclusive access,” Geoffry said.

“Who’d you sell your soul to?” Hettie asked Geoffry. 

“Vice, a long time ago,” Geoffry said.

“Mr. Meadows recommended you, but I have to ask.Can you keep up in a combat zone,” Shiro asked.

“First Infantry out of high school.Served on the front in the War of the Arctic.Did my degree in journalism remotely on various military bases around the world and got out in time to cover the Last War on the front lines.I’ve been doing mafia turf wars, police actions, and the like ever since then.You know, the stuff that no one calls a war but still makes for a damned combat zone.I can keep up just fine.How much access do I have.”

“As much as you want as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the mission,” Shiro said.

“That could mean anything,” Hettie said.She’d heard it before.

“Interviews with human combatants; aliens, if they want to sit down with you, bridge access during battles, mission reports if they’ve been cleared for release.”

“You heard about the missing Galaxy Garrison cadets?” Geoffry asked.

That had happened when she’d been covering a string of political assassinations in Norway.It hadn’t made the news the same way the Heracles had, but it had made the news around the world all the same until the Holt angle came out and it became a major scandal.It hadn’t exactly been in her wheelhouse though, so she hadn’t paid too much attention to it.All she really knew was that a few Cadets had gone missing, one of them was the daughter of Commander Holt, and the Garrison had never really given a good explanation for it or the explosion that had been reported the night they’d been reported missing.

“You came back and grabbed a few cadets for the war?” Hettie asked.

“More like I came back and a few cadets busted me out of the Garrison and helped me find the ancient alien spaceship that had been hidden on Earth several thousand years ago.Turned out it was pretty important to countering the empire.”

She’d get the details of the war later, just then she needed to figure out her access.

“Is it all ship to ship?” Hettie asked.

“We put boots on ground in about a quarter of our engagements,” Shiro said.“That’s mostly boarding ships, but we conduct missions on different planets as well. You can join in, mission dependent, if my team thinks you can keep up.”

“I can keep up,” Hettie said.

“Good,” Shiro said. 

“You have your vest and helmet?” Geoffry asked.

Always.

“Those won’t be effective,” Shiro said.“We’ll equip you with everything you need for safety.Can I take it you’re coming?”

“I’m coming,” Hettie said.

“Do you need to make any calls?” Shiro asked.“We leave as soon as you’re ready.”

Hettie hitched her bag on her shoulder.“No calls,” she said.“I’m ready to go.”

Geoffry handed her a data key.“A copy of my interview.Review it on the way.Good luck, stay safe, and come back with Pulitzer worthy material.”

“Journalists in my line of work don’t get Pulitzers by staying safe,” Hettie said.She turned to Shiro.“Shall we?”

Shiro nodded.He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that he stuck onto his neck.There was a shimmer over his face and then a completely different face came into focus.She was pretty sure nothing like that existed on Earth.He offered to carry her bags, but she didn’t get anywhere with military folks by letting big strong men carry her things.

They took the elevator to the roof, and of course there was no sign of a space ship.She had expected something, a shimmer in the air, or a disturbance in the gravel.Heck, she was pretty sure the roof wasn’t rated for anything to be landed on it.She was pretty sure infamous Galaxy Garrison pilot, Takashi Shirogane hadn’t just lured her up to the roof to push her off, but she had been surprised before.

He walked in front of her though, and paused just a moment to toe a line in the gravel. 

“Your boss stumbled when he went through the field, just letting you know the line’s right here.”

Hettie nodded and watched Shiro disappear into thin air.She eyed the line and walked forward.There was a shimmering bending of the light and then…

“It’s a lion,” Hettie said.It was a massive mechanical lion.It had to be at least seven stories tall.

“This is the Black Lion of Voltron.” Shiro said.“Still have no idea why it’s a Lion.Built by aliens thousands of years ago, they had animals on their planet that looked like lions, even called them lions.Then again, they look mostly human themselves.They’re pretty certain they’d never been to Earth except when the Blue Lion was hidden here.”

She didn’t know what Voltron was, but figured it was on the interview Geoffry had handed her.She dug around in her bag and pulled out her shoulder camera and mounted it, she’d get a proper set up later.When she’d walked in the building she hadn’t thought that the trip itself would be something worth documenting.She got her camera set up in time to watch the lion lean forward and open its mighty jaws for a ramp to come down.She was so caught up in that that it wasn’t until the ramp had extended to just in front of her feet that she realized the reason the roof hadn’t caved in was because the lion was hovering just inches above the gravel.It wasn’t making a sound. 

Shiro stepped up the ramp and she let the camera follow him as he climbed up.He turned to look at her while he was framed in the jaws of the lion and Hettie couldn’t have asked for a better shot.She walked up the ramp after him and entered a chamber she realized was an airlock when the jaws closed behind her.The airlock opened and there was an open bay with seating and storage.They went up a stairway to the cockpit. 

“Bags strap in here,” Shiro said, gesturing towards some netting.He pointed towards a fold down seat.“You strap in there.Flight helmet is non-negotiable.”

“How long is the flight?” Hettie asked.

“About fifteen minutes,” Shiro said.“Can’t travel too fast through the atmosphere with out leaving a heat trail.”

Hettie strapped in, wishing that her seat faced the front of the cockpit.She had to remove her shoulder cam to get the harness on.Realizing the trip wasn’t going to be conducive to any interviews, she pulled out her phone and synced the data key Geoffrey had given her.She popped in an earbud and shoved the helmet down over her head.She looked up at Shiro who had put on a helmet of his own and after he was sure she was safely settled in he went and sat in the cockpit. 

Through the helmet she could hear him talking to someone else.It sounded like he was checking in with others.Probably the Garrison cadets.

Suddenly though, Shiro’s voice came in over speakers in her helmet.“Takeoff in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” he said. 

It didn’t feel much like taking off.The movement was subtle, and she craned her neck to see out the front of the cockpit at the moving skyline.She watched the skyline disappear to be replaced by nothing but blue.She turned to her phone to watch Geoffry’s interview with Shiro.

At the end of the video she looked out the cockpit to the stars outside. 

“What’s that?” Hettie asked.Outside, in front of them she could see two other crafts.She realized she was looking at the haunches and tail of two more lions, one accented in Red and the other Accented in Blue.

“Keith and Lance are racing back,” Shiro said.

“Are all of the ships shaped like animals?” Hettie asked. 

“Just Voltron,” Shiro said.

“And Voltron is piloted by you and the Cadets?”

“That’s right,” Shiro said.

“How old are the cadets?” Hettie asked.

“Keith, Lance, and Hunk are eighteen,” Shiro said.“Pidge is turning fifteen soon.”

“And she’s serving in a combat role,” Hettie said.

The pause was not encouraging.

“Pidge’s primary role is in Intelligence, but she has a restricted role as a pilot,” Shiro said.“Voltron is complicated, there’s a mental link with the lions, and finding someone who is a match for a Lion is rare.They can’t really be replaced.There are several pilots in the fleet; if anyone else could pilot the Green Lion, we’d have someone else piloting the Green Lion.The reality is that without Pidge, there’s no Voltron.”

“A restricted role?” Hettie prompted.

“For the most part that means staying in her Lion during combat,” Shiro said.He pressed on before she could press him on what ‘for the most part’ meant.“In rare instances where her expertise are required in the field we do a risk assessment and she doesn’t set foot on the ground without an escort whose job it is to keep her safe.”

“Countless children are endangered whenever a war happens,” Hettie said.“Regardelss of whether or not they’re pressed into service.This isn’t a question of if she is in danger, it's a question of if her role in this war involves killing.”Kattie Holt would still be a child soldier if all she did was sit behind a desk far from the front and handle intelligence.

“It does,” Shiro said.“This is not a war that can be avoided.It must be fought.Voltron is the strongest weapon against the Empire and it’s what’s drawn the Alliance together.There is no Voltron without Pidge.There is no victory without Voltron.”

She’d scope out this mental link more when she had access to the others.Shiro was wrong though.War was avoidable, it was the people in power who sold the younger generations on the idea that war was necessary.Her own government had convinced her that the war of the Atlantic had been a necessary war.The Cuban and Venezuelan governments had convinced their people that the Last War had been necessary.They hadn’t been, though.Hettie just needed to find the powers that were driving this war.

“What were the Paladins doing on Earth,” Hettie asked.It felt odd calling them that, like they were characters in one of the role playing games her sister had loved before they’d both shipped out.

“Collecting each other’s families,” Shiro said.

“Each others?” Hettie asked.

“Even with the disguises, we felt it best that no one go home,” Shiro said.“The Garrison likely wants to talk to all of us, to say the least.”

They couldn’t go home because they might be recognized, or because they might decide to stay?Either way, she was definitely recording that as soon as she got off.

“How big is the alliance?” Hettie asked.

“Complicated answer,” Shiro said.“Seven races are represented in the alliance but two of those races comprise seven people.It started with the five of us and two aliens from a race called Alteans.Their planet was destroyed by the Galra just before Voltron was split up and left across the galaxy.They’d been in stasis until we found the Blue Lion and brought it to their ship.They’re pretty sure they’re the last of their race.Their ship houses Voltron, and Princess Allura is the chief diplomat of the Alliance and the head of the council.After them there are five peoples in the alliance so far.They provide troops, ships, and supplies.We’ve got about a hundred heavy warships, hundreds of support ships, and about a million personnel between ship crew and ground teams, with more on the way.There’s another race that provides medical aid, but they’re uncompromising pacifists and they refuse to join the alliance.”

“You said this war spans the galaxy,” Hettie said.

“The Galran Empire occupies most of the galaxy,” Shiro said.“The Altean ship we call home gives the Alliance something the Empire doesn’t have.They can generate wormholes that can take the fleet to any point in the galaxy.”

“So why are we flying?” Hettie asked.

“The Galra don’t have much in terms of long range scanning capabilities,” Shiro said.“Just to be safe though, we decided not to open a wormhole next to Earth.We didn’t want to draw their attention.”

“Do the Galra know that Voltron is piloted by Humans?” Hettie asked.

“We’re not sure,” Shiro said.“They know that the Blue Lion was on Earth, they may know I’m involved.Other than that we’re not sure what they’ve figured out.We don’t go around advertising where the Paladins of Voltron came from.”

“So you’ve talked up how advanced Voltron is and of these Alteans.You also spoke of the Galra as though they are less advanced.” Perhaps just propaganda. “What makes them the dominant force in the galaxy?”

“It’s a numbers game,” Shiro said.“There hasn’t been a unified response against the Galra until… I shouldn’t say that.We’re still trying to piece together the Empire’s history.The long and short of it though, is that the Galra have vast resources in ships, personnel, and materials.They’re rebuilding faster than we can do damage.”

“Why did you ask for a journalist?” Hettie asked.“Why expose the war to Earth?”She was pretty sure she knew the answer, she just wanted to see what he’d say.

“We’d like to be able to go home someday,” Shiro said, not the answer she was looking for.“There’s worry for what sort of reception we’d get with the Garrison.Particularly Keith and Pidge.More than that though, we want Earth to join the Alliance.” That was it.That was what she’d had to acknowledge from the beginning, that there was a reason they wanted a war reporter from Earth.At least he was being honest about it.

“I highly doubt that any Earth ship would be useful,” Hettie said.

“True,” Shiro said.“But our Allies can help with that.We want a shipyard further from the front, and we need people.Galaxy Garrison personnel can be quickly trained for the fleet, and Earth soldiers can hold a plasma blaster as well as they can hold a rifle.This isn’t going to be a quick war, and the chances that Earth will always be able to stay out of it are slim.Our people should know what’s going on, and they should have the chance to decide if they’re going to fight for their future and the future of the galaxy.”

“Do the Galra have allies?” Hettie asked.

“I wouldn’t say allies,” Shiro said.“There are planets that have submitted themselves to Galran rule.They avoid the worst of what the Galra have to offer while their planet and people are used up.We’ve never encountered empire soldiers who weren’t Galran or their robot sentries.Actually, the sentries make up the vast majority of their soldiers.”

“Have there been any peace talks?” Hetttie asked.

“The Empires motto is ‘Vicotory or Death.’” Shiro said.“They aren’t interested in compromise and we aren’t in a position to make them yet.Also, if you crane your neck a bit you can get a view of the fleet.”

Hettie did crane her neck, but focused more on trying to get the best view for the camera.There really was a fleet of ships out in front of them, she noted a few distinctive models, but the one that stood out dwarfed the others in size.

“That’s the Altean ship, isn’t it,” Hettie said.It seemed to be the one they were approaching rapidly.

“Welcome to the Castle of Lions,” Shiro said.She saw the red and blue lions dart in ahead of them.

The ship (castle?) got bigger and bigger until it filled the view from the cockpit.They flew into an opening and then they were inside of a massive bay.She didn’t feel it when they touched down, but she did notice systems powering down.Hettie unstrapped quickly and reattached her camera.Grabbing her bags she headed below to the airlock.It took forever for it to open, and she ripped out a handheld camera from her shoulder bag while she waited for the ramp to extend. 

Stepping out she was in time to see a green accented lion land to their left followed by a yellow one behind it.She turned to the right where two people were already getting out of the red one and four were coming out of the blue one.Everyone was rushing.The bay was huge, and there was a fair bit of room between the lions so she got to watch as people from the right started rushing towards the lions on the left which were just starting to open.

“Mamá,” a tall lanky young man called out.

“Hunk!” a young woman exclaimed.

People were yelling, people were running up to each other, and there were hugs all around.

“Excuse me,” Shiro said, moving around her so he could go down the ramp himself.His parents were waiting for him at the bottom.

Hettie recorded as much as she could.Her handheld had a somewhat useful directional mic on it, so it was probably hearing through the cacophony better than she was.A fluffy bit on family reunions was not what she was there for, but it was still good.She swung her camera towards the youngest person in the room.Pidge was in her mother’s arms and both of them were crying.There was a lot of that going around.She spotted the young man aloof of to the side.

* * *

Adam had mentioned when Shiro’s foster brother had been kicked out of the Cadet program at the Garrison.Before the launch, Shiro had tried to bring the boy by her home for dinner, but it had never happened and she’d only ever met Keith briefly on the day of the launch.His hair had been shorter and he’d been wearing the Cadet’s dress uniform.She hadn’t recognized him when she’d opened the door in the middle of the night to find an older teenage boy on her porch, but then, he hadn’t looked like himself at the time.He’d just held up a picture of Kattie, a picture of her daughter she’d never seen before, that looked recent, and the Sanchez boy, Lance, was in it.

“I’m here about your daughter,” he said.

Colleen didn’t think she’d ever really lost hope that she’d see her baby again, but after losing her husband and son, Kattie’s disappearance had almost felt like some cosmic entity was clipping away the loose threads of her life.Finding out she’d never even been to the school Colleen had thought she’d been attending for months had hit her hard.Finding out by seeing a news report about three missing Galaxy Garrison Cadets had been an extra slap in the face. 

She’d realized, of course, what her daughter had been doing.She’d realized when it was all too late. She knew what Kattie had suspected right before she’d suddenly announced a desire to study in California.Kattie had been on to something.She’d been excited about something on the last night Colleen had heard her baby’s voice.The Garrison had already come out with a story about runaway cadets and drugs when she had informed them that they needed to be looking for her daughter.She got the same icing out she’d gotten when the Heracles had been lost but this time she knew that something was more wrong than a mission failure with all hands lost.There had been reports of an explosion at the garrison the night of the disappearance, as well as a streak of light in the sky.She never knew if that was a red herring or if something catastrophic had happened that the Garrison had felt the need to cover up.She’d taken an extensive leave of absence so she could look for her daughter.She’d gotten together with the Sanches and Kilisi families to hire a private investigator.She’d flown to Arizona to bully the local police to do their own independent investigation.She hadn’t left any stone unturned, but still, when the boy had shown up, she was still surprised that any trace of Katie was left to show up on her doorstep.Or that she’d been found in the flat she’d been renting while she tried to follow up on leads.

“Where is my daughter?” Colleen had asked.

“Can we talk about this inside?” the boy had asked.

Colleen had ignored every instinct that told her not to invite a strange young man into her house in the middle of the night and stepped to the side.Then he’d pulled something off of his neck and his face had shimmered and changed, and still Colleen hadn’t recognized him.She might not have grabbed the coatrack from beside the entry to thrust it into his face if she had.

“Where the hell is my daughter?” Colleen had asked.“And who the hell are you?And what the hell was that?”

“I’m going to take you to her,” the boy had said, eyeing the coatrack speculatively.“I’m Keith Kogane, we met when the Heracles launched.And that was just a hologram.Pidge sent me.”

“Keith?” Colleen had asked.It took her a moment even then.He’d grown.He didn’t look like the boy he’d been back then, but it was him.

That had been a couple of hours ago, and one shopping trip later, she was inside of a giant mechanical lion that was supposedly a spaceship.She really hoped it was a real spaceship.Some part of her wasn’t so sure that this wasn’t some Garrison plan to get rid of her.If it was real then she would see her daughter soon.If it was real and Shiro really was with them, then maybe Matt and Sam were really still alive too.

“How did you find me?” Colleen asked.

“Pidge tracked you phone,” Keith said. 

Of course she had.She still wasn’t used to hearing her daughter referred to as Pidge outside of police reports.

“How much longer?” Colleen asked.

“We’re just waiting for Shiro to complete his objective,” Keith said.

Shiro.

“Lance, hey,” Keith suddenly said, his attention somewhere else.“Did it go alright?”

The conversation went on for a bit, and Keith was suddenly a lot more vibrant than the boy she’d met at the launch. 

“We’re going to take off,” Keith said to her.

Colleen hoped so.She got into the seat Keith had shown her earlier and strapped in. 

“Secure for launch?” Keith asked.

“Secure for launch,” she said, suddenly brought back to her own days flying across the solar system.She didn’t have the best view of outside but she watched as the lights of the city were replaced by the starry night’s sky, and it was real.It was all real and tears sprung up in her eyes, because if she was actually in a real spaceship, then that meant she was really going to go see her daughter.That meant her daughter had been in a war.

“What form of propulsion does this use?” Colleen asked.

“Alchemy?” Keith said.“Most of the ships in the fleet use spatial field warping generators to achieve FTL when we aren’t using wormholes, Pidge and Hunk haven’t figured out how the Lions work yet though.”

Well that couldn’t be right.Wait.

“Wormholes?” Colleen asked.

“Just a second,” Keith said, then louder.“We both know Red’s the fastest lion.There’s no way you’re beating me there.” A pause, and then.“Sure we can race,” Keith said.“If you want to _lose_.” 

He seemed to push forward some sort of accelerator and the stars outside seemed to move faster.

“Okay,” Colleen said.“Wormholes first, then you tell me how the inertial dampeners work.”

“Alchemy,” Keith suggested again.She didn’t get much of a better answer out of him.The trip wasn’t long though.She could ask her daughter.She was going to see her baby soon.

Keith sputtered over something coming in over his radio.“That wouldn’t even be a race,” he said.“You’re literally teaching me how to swim.I’ll trash you in the obstacle course tonight.”

What were these children doing in space?In a war.

“We can do the obstacle course after swim class,” Keith said.“What?Oh, right.”He looked over his shoulder.“Mrs. Holt, you should be able to see the fleet ahead.”

Colleen craned her neck to get a look out the front.

“I think she can tell which one the castle is, Lance,” Keith said.

She could.It was the largest vessel in the fleet and they were heading right for it.

“I’m not a tour guide,” Keith said.

The castle was suddenly very large in front of them and they flew in through an opening and landed in a massive bay.Colleen’s heart picked up and there was a swoop in her stomach.Her daughter would be there.Her daughter was just outside.They landed and Colleen’s hands were almost numb as she fumbled with the straps on her seat.She let the helmet she’d been given fall to the floor as she rushed down to the airlock below the cockpit.Patience was something she’d learned as a mother, and lost when her last child had disappeared.

She rushed down as soon as it was safe, Keith keeping pace just behind her, with obviously less enthusiasm.He’d mentioned that the Shiroganes were coming as well and she wondered if he was excited to see them.Her eyes quickly found the Green Lion and she just barely turned her head to consider the Black one, where Shiro was actually standing behind a woman with a camera.Shiro was alive.Kattie first, but Shiro was alive, and that meant Matt and Sam… She passed the Black Lion, and in front of her the jaws of the Green lion were opening and a moment later her daughter stepped out.

She ran then.Kattie ran also down the ramp, which probably wasn’t safe.Whoever the hell had decided that a spaceship should look like a lion had also neglected to put a safety rail on the disembarkation ramp.She made it down safely though and the two of them practically ran into each other throwing themselves into a hug. 

“Mom!” Her baby said.“Mom, I missed you so much.”

She hadn’t really thought about what to say to her daughter first when she found her but, if she’d thought about it ahead of time, it probably wouldn’t have been, “you are in so much trouble young lady.”She held on tightly.

“Like, legally?”

“What do you think?” Colleen asked.“It doesn’t matter.Just.Oh god, I thought I’d lost you, too.I thought I’d lost you, too.”She started crying, and Kattie didn’t last long after that.

“They’re out there,” Kattie hiccupped.“They’re out there and I’m going to find them.”

They held each other for a while.“I’ve got so much to tell you,” her daughter said.“Did Keith tell you about Matt and Dad?”

“He did,” Colleen said.“I don’t think… If I hadn’t just seen Shiro.”

“That’s what I thought when I first saw him,” Kattie said.“I mean, I already knew they’d been abducted by aliens, wait till I show you my work on that, but even then I didn’t really know until I saw Shiro. 

“Matt’s in some sort of mining colony.We’re narrowing down the exact details, and I’m close.It’s because of Lance.He did some crazy stuff and got all of the intel we have on Matt.You have to meet him, and Hunk too.We invent stuff together.We made the cloaking devices for the lions.Oh, and I made the most powerful processor in the alliance.It’s a clone from an Ocaampan AI, but I coded it!”

“Slow down sweetie,” Colleen said putting her hands on either side of Kattie’s face to ground her.“One thing at a time.Tell me about Matt.”

“Okay, so don’t even get me started on this because this involves time travel, and some other stuff, but the long and short of it is Lance met Matt in another timeline (ugh, yes, I know, time travel’s not possible, we’ve sort of confirmed it though) but he met Matt and asked him where they’d had him.Reportedly, conditions aren’t great but they could be a lot worse.So we’re hoping he’ll be alright when we find him.The bad news is he was separated from Dad early on.”

That was a lot to take in.What did ‘could be a lot worse,’ even mean?Things could always be a lot worse. 

“Oh, Lance, hey Lance!”

* * *

Lance had been tempted to just say, “Hunk is in the Yellow one,” and run off, but had reminded himself that he couldn’t just abandon Hunk’s family on an alien spaceship, no matter how impossible it was to get lost on the way towards the other lions. 

“That’s his Lion right there,” Lance said.“The yellow one.”

He didn’t need to worry about being slow, they were in as much of a hurry as he was.

All the way at the other end of the bay, Lance could see the jaws of the Yellow Lion opening, and he knew his family was right there.Ahead of them Mrs. Holt was rushing towards Green and there was Pidge coming out.Then he saw them.Hunk had walked out and behind him was Lance’s own family.

“Mamá,” Lance said, excitedly.He saw her head sweep towards him and they locked eyes, and Lance really did abandon the Kilisis then.He heard someone shout out Hunk’s name but he wasn’t really paying attention.Lance didn’t know if the whole family had decided that his mamá should be in the front but she was, and she grabbed him up in the fiercest hug he’d ever gotten.

“I was scarred I had lost you forever,” Mamá said.

Lance had spent plenty of time scarred that she had.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“You need to come home,” Mamá said.

Lance didn’t say anything to that, because he couldn’t tell her that he wasn’t coming home. 

“Come home with us,” Mamá said.“This isn’t your war, you weren’t ever supposed to fight in any war.”

“It is my war,” Lance said.“They’re a threat to everyone, and I’m never letting them get anywhere near any of you.”Not while he was still breathing.

He locked eyes with Tío Mateo and wondered if he remembered what he’d told Lance all those years ago about war. 

“Just listen to your mamá,” Tía Elena said.

Mamá pulled back and pulled his head down so she could kiss him on his forehead, and then it was everyone else’s turn for hugs.

“You could have told us,” Papá said.“You just disappeared.”

“I didn’t know I was leaving Earth until I was leaving Earth,” Lance said.“It all happened so fast, and we’ve always tried to make sure we don’t give the Galra any reason to come to Earth so we’ve been staying away.”

“How likely is that?” Marco asked.“Them getting to Earth?”

That brought Lance up short, because he didn’t want his family to worry, but he didn’t exactly want to lie.Especially since Shiro’s reporter was going to be revealing everything soon enough.

“If the alliance fails?” Lance shrugged.“It’s a matter of a handful of years.But that’s why we’re out here.We’ve completely disrupted their front and their supply lines.They’ve been slowed down a lot and as the alliance gets bigger we’re going to stop their expansion completely and then we’re going to send them back.”There was a silence after that as they took that in, and as Lance was already addressing Marco it occurred to him to ask.“Hey, where are the twins?”

“The twins are with their mother,” Tía Elena said.“As if we’d have more of you children out in space, and with Teresa in her condition.”

“What’s wrong with Teresa?” Lance asked.

“She’s expecting,” Marco said.

“Oh my gosh,” Lance said.“Congratulations! When?”

“Rolando and Camila get a baby sister next month,” Marco said. 

“You should be home to meet your future niece,” Tía Elena said.

Lance didn’t want to miss that, but, “I should be out here making sure she has a future,” Lance said.

“Why you?” Carla asked.“There are other pilots aren’t there?You’ve only just turned eighteen!That sucked, by the way, when we didn’t even know what had happened to you.”

“I wish we could have come sooner.The why me is complicated,” Lance said.Hehad tried to discern countless times why it had been him who had been chosen.Finding out that he was the reincarnation of the last Blue Paladin had helped, but still, he’d found that out at the same time he’d found himself barely sufficient for the task at hand.

“I need to explain Voltron to you.Come on, I need to introduce you to my lion.”He’d leave out the reincarnation part.He took his mamá by the hand and started leading his family towards Blue.They wouldn’t be able to feel her, like Lance could, but he didn’t think he would be able to explain it properly without her.

“Lance,” Pidge shouted.“Hey Lance.”

Pidge waved him over, and Lance guessed they’d be introducing their families to each other. 

“Mom,” Pidge said.“This is Lance.He’s helping me find Matt.”

Lance had planned to tell his family everything.He’d wanted to tell them everything.He’d known they’d been worrying about him.Seeing them all so suddenly though, seeing how much this had affected them, he knew he couldn’t make them worry any more than he had to, and the story of how he’d helped Pidge out with Matt was very close to a story that Lance was not going to tell in front of his family.

“Oh that’s nothing,” Lance said.“The true feat is making sure she eats and actually goes to sleep at night.” Mrs. Holt laughed at that, but she looked a bit shell shocked.He turned to his family.“This is my friend Pidge, and her mom Mrs. Holt.”He started to introduce his own family but…

“Lance we’ve met already,” Luis said.

“When did you meet?” Lance asked

“Our children all went missing together,” Mrs. Holt said.“No one knew where you were, of course we met with each other.”

Lance had spent plenty of time worrying about how his family had taken his disappearance, but he hadn’t really considered that they might all get together.

“Lance is the one who got the big lead on where they’ve got Matt,” Pidge said to his family. 

Abort, abort, abort.“That was hardly anything,” Lance said.“You should tell your mom about your plan to track the supply chain, um, I’m going to introduce my family to Blue, see you in a bit.”

Still holding his mother’s hand he walked her towards Blue.He would have to brief everyone on things not to talk about in front of his family.

* * *

Keith hadn’t been sure if he was supposed to be there.Allura and Coran weren’t there, and like them, Keith didn’t have any family to reunite with.He had stopped walking with Mrs. Holt when they’d just passed the Black Lion and found himself watching Lance who was surrounded by his own family.In another lifetime Lance would have been introducing his soulmate to his family.He turned his head and saw Shiro with his parents.

There were people who weren’t there.Shiro would have probably dearly liked to have been able to see Adam.Keith knew that of all his siblings that Lance was closest to Veronica.They were both stationed somewhere with the Garrison.They might have been more cautious with Mrs. Holt, except she was Pidge’s only family on Earth, and Pidge had been able to find her in a small apartment outside of the Garrison installation in Arizona.People were missing, but everyone else had someone.It wasn’t that he was jealous.Not really.It was just that sometimes the absence hurt worse than others.He really didn’t belong there, at least, not at the moment. 

“Keith,” Shiro called.

Keith turned his head.Shiro was beckoning him like he wanted Keith to go over, like his parents would want to see the delinquent they’d fostered for a while.Keith didn’t like disappointing Shiro though, so he walked over.

Mrs. Shirogane approached him when he was just a step away, and her arms came up like she was going to give him a hug, but she just settled her hands on his shoulders and smiled at him, looking him over as if trying to see how he had changed since she’d last seen him, or perhaps how he had stayed the same.

There were tear tracks down her face; Mr. Shirogane’s too.He’d been with them when the Heracles had been lost, and neither of them had cried then.She wasn’t crying just then though, which was for the best.

“We were so worried,” Mrs. Shirogane said.

“You could have come home to us,” Mr. Shirogane said.He didn’t sound accusing, and Keith wasn’t sure what emotion was behind his voice.

“It seems you found where you needed to be though,” Mrs. Shirogane said.“You’ve grown into quite the young man.”

Keith didn’t know what to say to that.

“Keith got me out when the Garrison started trying to cover up my return,” Shiro said.“He and the others helped me find what the aliens were looking for and got it away from Earth.He’s been my right hand man since then.”

 _At least literally,_ Keith thought.Shiro was wearing long sleeves and gloves, and Keith doubted he’d gotten to the robot arm yet.

Mrs. Shirogane looked like she really might just hug him then, and some part of Keith almost decided to make the decision for her, but he didn’t. Lance had been getting to him. 

“Come on,” Shiro said.“Keith can help me show you around the castle.Princess Allura and Coran are hosting a dinner for us all tonight.”

So he’d show them around the ship.

“Oh, no one said I needed to dress up for royalty,” Mr. Shirogane said.

Keith looked at Shiro, because no one had said anything about dressing up.“We can fabricate you some formal clothing pretty quickly.”

“This isn’t a state dinner Keith,” Shiro said.“Dad was joking.”

“Do you get up to any state dinners out here?” Mrs. Shirogane asked.

“When we can’t avoid them,” Shiro said.

“Lance likes them,” Keith said.“Most of the time.”

Shiro gave Keith a sly sideways look and Keith remembered that in a moment of weakness he’d actually told Shiro that he liked the way Lance looked in his formalwear. 

“Come on,” Shiro said.“You probably didn’t have a good view of the fleet, let’s go to the bridge.Keith, you’ve got your phone, why don’t you show off some pictures.”

Lance was a picture taker, and Pidge was too, but only when she thought something was funny.They always sent photos out to everyone else, though, so Keith had a full album documenting their time in space.He flipped through some photos.Shiro looked amused when the first photo he showed was of Lance.

“Ms. Shirazi,” Shiro called out.“If you would just come with me for now.”

Keith hoped she wouldn’t want to interview him.

* * *

“You didn’t even want to go to space,” Sefina said.“Why are you living on a space ship in the middle of a war.”

“I’m living on one of the most advanced spaceships in the Galaxy,” Hunk said.

“In the middle of a war,” Momma Talia said.

“Have you been hurt?” Momma Natia asked.

“Of course not,” Hunk said.“Look at my lion, he’s the most heavily armored.It’s Lance who goes off on missions and gets hurt.”

“None of you should be getting hurt,” Momma Talia said.

“They’re making you fight in a war that isn’t yours,” Momma Natia said.

Hunk gestured towards Yellow again.“No one can really make me do anything.I’m here because it’s the right thing.”

“Why you though?” Sefina asked.“You’re not even a pilot.”

That wasn’t something Hunk was really able to answer.He helped the Alliance as an engineer, he’d always felt like there were probably a bunch of other people in the Alliance who would make a better pilot for Yellow.

“No one made this war mine but me,” Hunk said.“I could have come home months ago.I’ve seen what the Empire does though.I’ve seen entire planets destroyed, billions of people killed, and to them it’s just a whim.Just another planet.I’ve seen entire races enslaved.I can’t turn my back on that.I can’t just come home from that and hope it all works out.”

“You can do your part from home,” Sefina said.“Like you always wanted to do.”

“Hunk, manamea,” Momma Natia said, holding his face in her hands.“We thought something horrible had happened to you when you disappeared, but this is worse than I had imagined.”

“And I can imagine what will happen to the galaxy if we don’t give our all to stop the Empire,” Hunk said.“I’m sorry I disappeared.I’m sorry you’ve all worried.I’ve missed you so much, but I have to do this.I’ve met so many amazing people Momma, so many people who are fighting for their right to live and be free.People fighting for others as well.I can’t just leave them to do it alone.”

“But what if you really do give your all?” Momma Talia asked.

That wasn’t something Hunk liked to think about, even though he thought about it a lot.

“Then I’ll hope I’d made a difference,” Hunk said.“I can’t give you good answers here, nothing that’ll make you feel like I’m going to be alright, because I don’t know that.I just know that I need to do this.I need to make sure no other planet gets turned into molten slag.”He sighed.“I need to explain Voltron to you,” he said.As well as he understood it anyway.“Then I can show you the kitchen,” he tried tempting Momma Talia.

She pulled him down into a hug.“You weren’t supposed to grow up so fast.”

“I did though,” Hunk said.He hadn’t had much of a choice in the matter, and besides, he’d never had much patience.

* * *

The boys might be eighteen, but as she often did in her line of work, she saw children who should still be learning how to be adults.She captured that idea with her camera as she filmed the reunions between child and parent.She caught more than a couple of them trying to explain to their parents what they were doing in the middle of a war.

She got closer to the boy she was pretty sure was Lance Sanchez.The tall lanky boy stood out surrounded by his family and they’d just been intercepted by Pidge and Colleen Holt.Sanchez suddenly had the look and manner of someone desperately trying to steer a conversation and she hoped he was unsuccessful.Then the two families split apart, and Hettie didn’t know which one to stay with.The decision was removed from her when Shiro called her over. He was with his parents and the boy that was most likely Keith Kogane. 

It wasn’t where the camera wanted to go, but Hettie wasn’t planning on butting any heads until she had a better lay of things.The Shiroganes definitely had their own story though, and it was one she could tell, so she followed.Then they walked out the door and there was an alien.So far away from Earth, was she the alien?Their skin was pebbly, and though humanoid, the proportions were all off and the shape of their head more resembled a bird’s.

“Ms. Shirazi,” Shiro said.“This is Petty Officer Arlvin.He’ll take you to your quarters so you can drop your bags off and take you around the castle to get you familiar with the main areas you have access to.”

What didn’t she have access to? 

“I am pleased to help you in this way,” Petty Officer Arlvin said. How on earth was he making human sounds with a mouth like that?

“Don’t worry about any language barriers onboard the castle,” Shiro said. “And here, a comm piece.I’ll need to ask you to always have it on you while you’re with us.”

Shiro seemed to wait for some sort of response from her and all she could do was nod as she took the earpiece and put it in her pocket, and then she was alone with the alien.Petty Officer Arlvin.It wasn’t that she had never been thrown for a loop before, but still, she was now alone with a very otherworldly being.

“My name is Hettie,” Hettie said.“How should I address you?”Different military cultures had different ways for civilians to address enlisted.

“You may call me Arlvin,” Arlvin said.“Should I show you to your quarters now?”

“Yes,” Hettie said.“Is it alright if I record this?”

“You have been granted permission to record in all of the areas that you have access to,” Arlvin said.He started walking down the hall and gestured for her to follow.

“I see,” Hettie said.“Can you tell me about yourself?”

“What do you wish to know about me?” Arlvin asked.

“What do you think about the ‘Voltron Alliance?’” Hettie asked.

“I am grateful for the alliance,” Arlvin said.“Our people are, of course, more advanced than the Galra, but we were vastly outnumbered.We remain a free people because of the Voltron Alliance, and we will fight with the Alliance until the Galra are no longer a threat.”

“What are your people called?” Hettie asked.

“We are the Nang’ok,” Arlvin said, emphasizing the last syllable.“We were the second to join the Alliance, after the Antedians.Our people have done much to improve the Antedian and now the Kormian fleets.”

They passed other aliens in the halls, and Hettie did her best not to stare.She wondered if Shiro had chosen the Nang’ok Petty Officer for being one of the least alien looking aliens onboard the ship.They took a lift a few floors up to a hallway that definitely looked a bit more residential. The motif had changed to softer colors and more decorative fixtures. 

“This section is usually reserved for visiting delegates from the Alliance,” Arlvin said.“We are not currently hosting any delegates, however, so there will be little traffic through this hall.Your quarters are right here.The doors will recognize you.There is a pad in your room with information on using shipboard features, to include items you will find in your quarters.I will be outside when you are ready to resume.”

“Thank you,” Hettie said.The doors opened for her and she walked in.It was small but well appointed.Certainly better than what she was used to.She found the pad on a table next to the bed, which looked far too soft.Setting her bags on top of the bed, she picked up the pad.It was fairly user friendly, and in English, though she wondered if it was in English the same way the Petty Officer outside was speaking English.On it she found some basic instructions for things like using the comm and atmospheric controls.There was also a schedule for the day and it looked like she was invited to a dinner that evening.She looked at her watch which matched the time on top of the device.The schedule was only for that day, and it definitely looked like the schedule of public events for the families.She wondered if she could get a more detailed schedule for the Alliance.

She set the pad down and got her notebook out of her bag and finally got started on what she wouldn’t have ever left for an assignment without doing before hand.She started writing and circling words spread out on the page.The first one was ‘War,’ which she put in the center.Around the edges she put others, ‘Heracles,’ ‘Empire,’ ‘Alliance,’ ‘Voltron,’ and ‘Cadets.’From there she started spidering out.From ‘Empire’ she connected ‘Different Perspectives,’ while from ‘Alliance’ she connected ‘Child Soldiers?’Of course, from ‘War’ she connected ‘Earth.’ 

She sat there for a while organizing her thoughts and figuring out key focuses and lines of questioning.She’d do it again that night after she knew more and every night after.When she was done she unpacked her equipment and made sure that everything was in order.She swapped out her shoulder camera for her glasses.With two lenses she’d get a proper three dimensional point of view look and it was less obtrusive for the events later in the day with the families.She didn’t expect any long distance shots for the day, but she put her handheld into her shoulder bag and made for the door. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Hettie said.

“I was tasked to wait for you,” Arlvin said.

“Right,” Hettie said.“So where will our tour go?”

“I will be showing you to the bridge, the galley, the training deck, the infirmary, and recreation areas aboard the castle, as well as any areas you may request,” Arlvin said.

“Are there any areas off limits?” Hettie asked.

“There are of course some areas with equipment that could be dangerous,” Arlvin said.“The Teludav and Chrystal rooms are of course off limits, as well as ships weapons access and intelligence wing.Additionally the Paladin and Strike Team quarters decks are off limits without invitation.”

“Can we see the bridge first?” Hettie asked. 

“Of course,” Arlvin said.

“So tell me about the Strike Team,” Hettie said.

* * *

“So what aren’t you telling us?” Tía Elena asked.

“What do you want to know?” Lance asked.

“Have you been hurt?” Mamá asked.

“Of course,” Lance said.“But nothing that didn’t heal up good as new.Look at me, I’m fine.”

“Have you been praying?” Tía Elena asked.

“Every night,” Lance answered.The time loop didn’t count.

“We should have brought a priest,” Carla said.Lance would have liked that, to have someone to talk about everything with.His doubts.Carla was probably talking about communion though, and confession.It would be nice, but Lance didn’t really think God was holding it against him that he was fighting for the galaxy without a priest on call to give him the sacrament.

“Sure,” Luis said.“We could have just brought Father Manuel with us.Into space.”

“Who turns down a trip to space?” Carla asked.

“Wait a minute,” Miguel said.“We’re in space.”

“Welcome to the party,” Jorge said.

“But no, you guys, we’re in space!We’re all astronauts now.”

“Oh, is that why you all came?” Lance teased.

“We came to bring you home,” Papá said.

Lance shrugged.They’d already been over it.

“Don’t you get leave or anything?” Luis asked.

“I haven’t even been out here for a full year yet,” Lance said.The time loop didn’t count.

“How long?” Papá asked.

“What?” Lance asked.

“How long until this is all over?” Papá asked.“You make it sound like they can’t possibly use this Voltron without you.So when will this be over?When will this empire be defeated?You said they’ve been around for thousands of years?Will they fall in a day?”

“No,” Lance said, getting upset.“It probably won’t.Don’t you- you don’t understand.I was chosen for this?None of this was an accident.I’m where I’m supposed to be.Father Manuel always said that God had a plan for us, well, if this is fate then I know why I’m here, and I’m not turning away from this.This is my calling.” 

He’d had to tell himself that more and more as more and more he’d felt like he didn’t have a place on the team.

“You were going to call me Paloma if I’d been a girl, right?” Lance asked.“It meant peace.For the peace we’ve had on Earth.Well, that doesn’t exist for most of the galaxy.I know I’m not spreading peace, I go into battle everyday, but this is how I can at least give people hope that there can be peace someday.You’re right, you’re absolutely right, I think I could do this my whole life and it wouldn’t be done, but even then I have to do it.If we don’t start this now it will never be finished, and I don’t think I’ll be able to face God when I die after I turned away from the path he gave me.”

Tía Elena looked like she’d been slapped, and Mamá covered her mouth with her hand, she looked like she was going to cry.Papá just looked grim.It wasn’t something he’d planned on telling them.He knew that they’d been worried about him, he knew he’d hurt them by disappearing, and all he’d wanted was to reassure them.He’d imagined this reunion, imagined explaining what he’d been doing and then after that everything would be alright and they’d spend the rest of the day like he’d never been gone. 

“What do you need?” Tío Mateo asked.

Lance shrugged.“Just tell me I can still come home for Easter,” he said.

“You can always come home,” Mamá said.“Just as long as you come home.”

“Whenever I can,” Lance promised.“We’re working on making things good with the Garrison.We’ll see.Come on,” he said.“You should see the place where I’ve been living, and meet some of the people I work with.”

“Some aliens?” Carla asked.

“Of course some aliens,” Lance said.“Just don’t treat them like they’re aliens.Everybody’s just people here.Just give me a moment, I need to do something in the aft, quick maintenance since we just landed, real quick, be right back.”

He ducked out of the cockpit and closed himself off.He tapped his earpiece.“Lance to Team Voltron,” he said, and waited for the team to join in.

“Hey, so, just a couple of quick guidelines, should have thought of this before, but let’s not mention the time loop, my position on the Strike Team, or any of my major injuries?”

“Okay,” Pidge said.“But with you, how are we defining major injuries, because some things have become pretty common for you.”

“Major injuries are still major injuries Pidge,” Lance said.

“Is this an odd Human custom?” Coran asked.“Your family would be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

“I don’t want them to worry any more than they already are,” Lance said. 

“I’ll keep my lips sealed,” Hunk said.“But I already told my family about what you get up to so that I’ll look safer by comparison.”Then, “that doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Hunk said to someone off comm.

“We’ll try to help make family day go well for you,” Shiro said. 

“Thanks,” Lance said.“Okay, I’ve got to get back to them.”

Lance went back into the cockpit.He’d show them the training deck.The Strike Team, like a lot of people, had the day off, so hopefully he wouldn’t run into any of his team.

* * *

“So,” Mom said.“You’re going by Pidge now.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said.“Just for now.”

“It’s okay if you’re trying out something new,” Mom said.“If you think Pidge suits you better than…”

“I’m still Kattie,” Pidge said.“I’m just… Ugh.I just realized I needed to be Pidge to get into the Garrison and I… I just needed to be someone who could do the things Kattie couldn’t do.”

“This is all you sweetie,” Mom said.“I doubt it was anything I did, but I raised an incredible daughter whose done incredible things (that I wish she hadn’t done), but sweetie, you don’t need to be anyone else.”

Pidge hugged Mom again for the dozenth time.“I just need to be Pidge a little while longer,” she said.Until she found them.

“And these glasses?” Mom asked.

“I’m keeping them safe for Matt,” Kattie said, pulling away as though Mom was going to take them off of her face.“He’ll probably need a pair.The prescription isn’t that strong.I don’t wear them on missions.”

Mom sighed.They both knew that she was grasping. 

“So you’re not just here to give me hugs,” Pidge said.

Mom kissed the top of her head.

“Or that,” Pidge said.“We’re um, pretty upset with the Garrison, but they’re part of our plans right now.Do you think you can go back?”

“Do you need me to get access to their systems?” Mom asked.

“I’ve got access to whatever I need,” Pidge said.She didn’t even need instantaneous communication anymore.The little probe she’d left in orbit would be able to process instructions she sent it and do whatever she needed. 

“I don’t know if they’ll listen to me,” Mom said. “I can argue they should support your alliance, but I think they’re pretty set on the public not finding out about aliens.”

“Not that either,” Pidge said.“How would you like to design humanity’s most advanced spaceship? Again.”

“I love how much faith you have in me, but I know full well I can’t design any ship that will be of any use against this empire.”

Pidge shook her head.“Don’t worry about the tech.Hunk’s going to send you with files on capabilities and specifications and stuff, but we need ships for humans to operate.Our allies can handle most of production, but in the end it needs to be designed for humans.”

“How big are we talking about?” Mom asked.

“That’s up to you,” Pidge said.“Hunk’s put together a bunch of ideas and stuff but in terms of actually designing a ship, that’s your department.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Mom said.

“Say yes?” Pidge gave her a winning smile, that would have definitely worked on Matt.

“You want me to work with the Garrison on this?” Mom asked.

Pidge shrugged.“Not really, but you need a team.I can’t expect you to design a fleet by yourself in any short period of time.”

“Oh it’s a fleet now,” Mom said. 

“Transports, troop landers, hospital ships, battleships,” Pidge said. 

“I’ll do what I can,” Mom said.“But if the Garrison just wants to sweep this under the rug…”

“We’re making sure they know that won’t be possible,” Pidge said.

“I could do it here,” Mom said.“I could design ships here just as easily.Your friend Hunk could work with me.”

Pidge wasn’t great with temptation, but she already knew what Shiro would say.

“I want that a lot,” she said.She wanted Mom to stay so much.“I think we need an advocate on Earth.You’re already a part of the Garrison.This’ll be harder if they don’t back us.We need you to go kick their butts and tell them what’s what.”

“Are you going to tell me what’s what?” Mom asked.

“The faster we advance the faster we find them,” Pidge said.“I’m close to finding Matt, I can feel it, but Dad could still be anywhere.”

“You’ll find him,” Mom said.There was another hug.“You’ll find them both.I’ve always known my babies could do anything.I just wish it didn’t mean you being involved in this war.”

“The Galra have them, and I am the intelligence wing of this operation, I’m going to find them.” Pidge said.At least, she’d started the intelligence wing of the Alliance, and she still handled a lot of the operations, but they had gotten actual dedicated people for that since.People who didn’t have to fly around in a lion.

“Have you made any friends?” Mom asked.“It sounds like you have a heavy operations tempo.”

“I’m friends with my team,” Pidge said.She was a part of a few teams actually.“Voltron, I mean, and the Alteans are pretty nice; for a while it was Allura and me as the only girls so we bonded over that, I guess.Jarra’s actually pretty cool to work with, he’s one of the Sif I’ve been working with in my spare time.Um, I’m pretty close to Lance.”

Mom frowned at that, but quickly hid it.“Pretty close like…?”

“Not like that,” Pidge said."He’s actually a fun guy, even though most of what I work on goes over his head.He’s always looked out for me, even when I wished he wouldn’t.I mean he was the one who told Shiro I was only fourteen.Also, he’s sort of made it his mission to help me find Matt and Dad.”

“What do you mean he told Shiro you were fourteen?” Mom asked.“Shiro knows how old you are.That’s… I haven’t known what to say to him, letting you do all of this.Taking you from Earth in the first place.”

“Oh, um,” Pidge wasn’t sure how much Shiro wanted them talking about. "We don’t really talk about it, but… Shiro came back with some pretty bad memory loss.The Galra did stuff to him, he doesn’t really remember what.It hasn’t affected his ability to lead the team, of course, and he forms memories just fine now, but he… he didn’t recognize me in the beginning.” 

“How much did he forget?” Mom asked.

Pidge shrugged.“Have you been in contact with Adam?”

“On and off,” Mom said.“Less after you disappeared.”

“I’m pretty sure he remembers him, but, you should tell him how Adam’s doing,” Pidge said.“Lance keeps dropping hints that Shiro should let the Ocaampans take care of it, but I think… I don’t think he wants to remember… what they did to him.”

“Matt and your father…”

“They were sent to work colonies,” Pidge said.“Shiro was… they took an interest in him.I… They did stuff to him so he could do better in their arena, and I don’t know, maybe the less he remembers about that the better.”

“Arena?”

Pidge shrugged and went in for another hug.She ran through the arena footage that they intercepted, always doing a quick scan for familiar faces.“It’s blood sport,” she said.“They pit different people they grab up from across the galaxy against each other, broadcast it all over the galaxy.”

She needed to change the subject, because she didn’t want Mom worrying about Matt or Dad getting sent into one of the arenas.

“So Lance and I are sort of related,” Pidge said.

Mom gave her a look like she was waiting for a punchline. 

“He gave me a copy of his X chromosome,” Pidge said.

“You changed your DNA?!” Mom asked.

“Just in the cells that needed it,” Pidge said.“The Ocaampans really are wizards with biology.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s much safer,” Mom said.“Is everything’s alright?”

“Well I didn’t get super cancer,” Pidge said.“And yeah, everything’s alright.Like, really, really alright.

There was another hug.“I was worried that wherever you were you wouldn’t be able to get proper access to a doctor for you medication.”

“More like I’ve got the best doctors in the galaxy.”

“I guess I’ll just be happy for you instead of worrying about someone splicing your DNA.”

“That works for me,” Pidge said.“Speaking of Lance though, I guess his family’s taking this pretty hard.Do you think we can avoid mentioning anything that might upset them?”

“Like that time travel thing?”

“That was actually on the list of things we aren’t supposed to bring up,” Pidge said.

“How bad was it?” Mom asked.

“Pretty horrifically bad for him,” Pidge said.“He made sure it wasn’t for the rest of us.I just got to experience the last time he went through the loop when he’d ‘perfected’ the battle.By that, I mean, he just kept doing it until no one from our side died, he still got horribly injured.”

“Would you tell me if something horrible had happened to you out here?” Mom asked.“Or did you ask your friends to keep secrets too?”

Pidge shrugged.There’d been a time when she wouldn’t have hesitated, or at least she would have told Matt if she hadn’t wanted to tell Mom, but since becoming Pidge she’d gotten used to keeping so many secrets.She’d also missed really having her mom in her life.

“Back in the beginning, before the alliance, some Galra infiltrated the castle.Almost killed Lance and Coran in a sneak attack and then they took Shiro and Lance hostage.I’m usually in my lion when we’re doing stuff.People die when I blow up a ship, but this was different.I got cornered by one of them, I was alone, and I was so close to not making it out of that one, but… I killed him, and I watched him bleed out and die.I’m usually pretty safe, and I’m usually… removed from the outcome, but yeah…If you’re looking for something horrible, there’s that.”

“Do you feel bad about it?” Mom asked.

Pidge shook her head.“No, I just… wish it hadn’t happened.”

“I wish none of this had happened,” Mom said.Another hug.“I take it we haven’t mastered time travel.”

“Only in a highly specific circumstance and we have a sample size of one,” Pidge said.“Also, the outcome was either time travel or everybody died.I’m pretty sure between the different peoples in the Alliance they’ve already written a few dozen papers on what happened.Every now and then when we’ve got to go to some big meeting, some physicist talks their way into accompanying a delegation and then they try to get Lance to answer questions about it.Of course he doesn’t really know any salient details and he doesn’t really like talking about it besides.”

Pidge checked her watch.“I guess we’re going to meet up on the training deck to show off some stuff,” she said.

“I know what family days are like in the military,” Mom said.“I just don’t think you’ve got the right audience.”

* * *

Hettie wasn’t sure why anyone had thought that the parents who had just found out that their children had been drafted into a secret war would want to watch a demonstration of what good soldiers they’d become but the awkwardness had been obvious to her camera.It must have been obvious to everyone else because it soon became family fun in low gravity.Hettie had anchored her handheld for a wide shot and she herself was gliding around, making long jumps around the training deck.There was a bit of a learning curve to it.Family fun time seemed to be better received at least.

“Hey Lance, how about you let me use that jet pack you’ve got,” Hettie overheard one of the younger Sanchez family members say.This got a mirthful laugh that bubbled up from Lance.(All five of the ‘Paladins’ seemed to go by their first name, even when they were being referred to by other members of the alliance). 

“I think Pidge could tell you a bit about how hazardous they can be when you’re getting used to them, but come here,” Lance said.

Lance bounded over to a storage locker and Hettie followed along with the young man who had made the request.He pulled out a torso rig and helmet that he started attaching to the young man, the whole while he was explaining how the device worked.He had a natural affability that worked well on the camera. 

“Is this safe?” an older man asked.The whole family was sticking close to their wayward son.

“It’s a bit difficult to get injured on the training deck,” Lance said.“Alright Miguel, just short bursts.A little bit goes a long way.Just the upward thrusters now, you seriously will throw yourself end over end if you try anything else.”

Lance kept a sure hold on him as he attempted to move about using the thrusters.There was laughter and turns were taken with the jetpack and Hettie moved on to where the Shiroganes and the Holts were gathered together along with Keith Kogane.It looked like they were discussing something serious but whatever it was the conversation ended when Hettie approached.She usually liked to keep to the background in the beginning.In combat, her job was to ‘shoot first’ and ask questions later, and that was something she found helpful before she even stepped foot into combat, but the parents weren’t going to be around for long.

Ultimately, it wasn’t Hettie’s job to create a narrative, or even to influence the people she was following.That was something that was easy to loose sight of when she was working through some of the worst conflicts that still happened on Earth.In spite of the sheer weight ofeverything, she hadn’t lost sight of what was happening.Children had been fighting in a war and the people behind it all wanted to draw the rest of the Earth into it.Even if she hadn’t lost sight of her role in documenting the facts, she knew well enough that she wouldn’t get far demanding accountability.

Hettie smiled.It was a bland smile; she tried to keep all of herself pretty bland.She never tried to be too memorable to anyone she followed.It was amazing how soon people could forget that there was a journalist next to them with a camera. 

“I’m sure this must be overwhelming,” Hettie said.“And I don’t want to take up your limited time with your families, but could I ask you how you feel to find your children alive?”

“Relieved,” Mrs. Shirogane said.“And proud.Takashi never stopped astounding us as a child, I don’t know why I should have been…”

“Was today the first you found out that he was alive?” Hettie asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Shirogane said.“I guess they don’t have phones in space.”He laughed like he had made a joke.“I can’t say we lost hope, because how could you have any when your son’s on the edge of the solar-system and they tell you his ship was destroyed?I feel like we’ve walked into a dream.This war though.We said we’d put an end to it.We ended it for our children.I hung up my uniform for the last time years ago, and now it’s my children who are fighting these- these Galra.”

She waited a moment for a finish to that thought, but none was forthcoming.Gyeong looked uncomfortable.Hettie turned to Mrs. Holt who had an arm wrapped around her daughters's shoulders and was holding her close to her side. 

“Mrs. Holt?”

“My daughter’s alive, Matt and Sam are too,” Mrs. Holt said.“And we’re going to find them.”

“And the Garrison?” Hettie prompted.

There was a flash of anger across her face but then it disappeared. 

“There’s likely a lot of work to be done in the future,” Mrs. Holt said.“Together.There are things that must be answered for, but I’m not going to dwell in the past while my son and my husband are still in the hands of the enemy.”

She was pretty sure she knew what Kattie Holt’s response to the next question would be, but the response of the mother of the youngest of them was what she really wanted.

“Will your daughter be returning with you to Earth,” Hettie asked.

Mrs. Holt looked with longing at the daughter in her own arms.“Not yet,” she said.She started to say something but aborted herself.“Pidge has been pushing to find the rest of our family, and she’s filled an important role here.”

“Also, there’s only so much I could do if the Garrison arrested me,” Pidge said.

With a return trip to Earth so close, it wasn’t the time to press the matter.Geoffrey would have to send others out to follow up with the families when they returned. 

“Was that much of a consideration when you began your infiltration of the Galaxy Garrison?” Hettie asked, turning towards the girl.

Pidge laughed, but her mother stopped her from answering.

“My daughter will reserve any comments on such matters until she has had some time to consult with a lawyer.”

Smart.It was time to disarm with a softball.

“Keith,” Hettie said, turning her attention once more.She hardly knew anything about him except what she had been told in the past couple of hours.She’d barely been aware of the others, but he hadn’t even made the news.“I understand you don’t get a lot of downtime.Could you tell me a bit about what you do for fun out here?”

Keith did not look like she had just asked an easy question.His eyes went a bit wide and he sent a glance towards Shiro, who just smiled and nodded his head. 

“Fun,” Keith said. “Um, I like training.Lance is our morale officer, he’s really good, about stuff…”

Alright.Not the first soldier who told her training was their RnR.

“Do you all have collateral duties?On top of being paladins?” Hettie asked. 

Shiro took over from there.He put a hand on Keith’s shoulder and looked proud saying, “Keith here leads the Strike Team.Pidge, as I mentioned before, handles a sizable portion of our intelligence operations.She also works with Hunk on a number of our more technical projects.Lance has been making sure we don’t go crazy.”

“He also does a lot with the strike team,” Keith said awkwardly.

“He does,” Shiro agreed. 

Hettie smiled again, in a bland fashion.“I won’t take up any more of your time with your families.I think I’ll go try to get my space legs.”

That would probably be important.She was going to have to be able to keep up if she wanted front line access.She’d been on plenty of ships during her Arctic tour, but as she hopped around the room in the low gravity, she thought it might take a bit more than that to get used to.She saw Aputi (Hunk?) dancing with one of the older women in the group.She made it look easy.Hettie hopped over.

* * *

There were more activities.Hettie was pretty sure that whatever had been planned had largely been scrapped, because Lance seemed to be taking over and showing off a number of things that they had access to onboard the ship and the whole thing seemed very impromptu.Lance did well on camera.Or, at least, he did well in front of a crowd.He liked to talk and the families were asking the questions for Hettie. 

“Lance,” someone asked.“Wha- um, who is that?”

Lance’s demeanor shifted completely, his very loose posture going rather rigid, when he saw the alien coming down the hall.He shushed the group.The alien appeared to have an exoskeleton though most of it’s body was draped in a formal looking robe.Two skeletal plates formed the face, meeting down the middle.Lance took a deep breath as the group approached the alien.

“Councilor Naatone,” Lance said with perfunctory solemnity as he bowed his head.“Well that you are onboard.Long have been the days since you have last been.”

“Exalted warrior,” Councilor Naatone said, a light inclination of his head towards Lance.“I serve my Chancelor err longer for your sacrifice.High Admiral,” he said turning towards Shiro.“Your cunning shall bring victory.”There was no bowed head this time

“Councilor Naatone,” Shiro said.“Your wisdom shall guide us there.May I present to you our honored guests?”

After that it seemed everyone had to be given an introduction, and each of the Paladins was greeted in turn.All of that pomp to finally arrive at the fact that he had come onboard to speak with Shiro himself.The two of them left after a moment to formally depart.

“Well that was actually quick,” Pidge said.

Lance’s formal demeanor dissolved with a hearty guffaw.“I swear, the longer you know him the longer he takes to get through a greeting.”

“I think that means he likes us,” Hunk said.

A young man who looked only a few years older than Lance pulled him down into a headlock.“Exalted warrior, huh?Does he know you run away from spiders?”

“Hey, that was one time, and that thing was huge!” Lance complained, lightly wrestling out from the other man’s arms.“But, um, yeah, the Kormians have got a title for everyone.”

“Yeah, but everyone else besides Shiro was just ‘Paladin,’” another one of Lance’s family said.

“What can I say,” Lance said.“They’ve recognized I’m just that awesome.”

“Lance just took out the Galran fighter that was about to hit the Councilor’s transport,” Pidge said. 

“No big deal,” Lance said. 

Hettie was well positioned to catch the grateful look Lance sent towards Pidge behind his family's backs.

“So,” Lance said.“Who wants a feast?We’ve got to make it, but I think there’s enough cooks here.”

It turned out that as well as picking up their families, there’d been a supply run to pick up foods that they hadn’t had access to in months.The castle’s kitchens were large, and the group of humans were only a part of the chaos inside.

“So we came all this way to an alien spaceship and we’re going to eat ropa vieja?” Lance’s father asked.

“I can set you up with a bowl of food goo if you’d like,” Lance said.

“That is exactly what it sounds like,” Hunk said.

“You’ve been eating goo?” his sister asked.

“We literally used an atom smasher to create chicken flavor powder so it would just taste like something,” Lance said.

“That’s not how the fabricator works,” Pidge said.

Which started a conversation about how the fabricator worked. 

It turned out that there were a number of cooks in the party and a feast was actually in the works. 

“You can fry bananas?” Pidge asked.

“You can fry plantains,” Lance’s aunt said.“These are tostones.”

“Is this the first time you’ve had food from Earth since you left?”Hettie asked.

“The last thing we ate on Earth was a packet of ramen cooked in can of soup,” Pidge said.“We can thank Keith for that.”

“It was good?” Keith said when the camera swung towards him.

“What else do you eat out here?” Hettie asked.She’d been watching some of the aliens in the kitchens preparing or retrieving various foods, some of which did appear to be a goo that came out of a hose.

“Whatever isn’t poisonous,” Lance said.

“How do you know if something’s poisonous?” Mrs. Holt asked.

Pidge held up her wrist to show off a bracelet.“Lights up if we’re about to eat anything we shouldn’t based on our body chemistry.”

“Is it difficult feeding so many different species on one ship?” Hettie asked.

“Apparently it’s difficult feeding Humans,” Hunk said.“Our Altean friends were very surprised that we couldn’t handle the Cyanide that’s found in a lot of Kormian foods.”

“Yeah, Lance threw up all over me,” Pidge said.

“You were poisoned?!” Lance’s mother asked.

Hettie let the camera linger on a concerned mother’s face, but her eyes had already flickered towards the boy who looked put on the spot.

“Ha, um, did I mention we have the best doctors in the galaxy?” Lance asked.“I was perfectly fine a few hours later, and now we’ve got these cool bracelets to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

“And how many times have you seen these doctors on death’s door?”

“Andria,” one of the older men in the group said.

The affable look on the boys face was gone and for a brief moment Hettie saw anguish.

“It’s a war mamá,” Lance said.“I’m… I always tell myself I need to come home to you some day.I will, but honestly, I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been.”The affable look was back but Hettie could see through it.“Hey, I don’t know about you all, but I’m hungry.We burn a lot of calories out here.Are those ready to go in the steamer?”

They let him change the subject.Hettie wondered how many times he’d been on death’s door.

* * *

Shiro came back eventually from whatever Councilor Naatone had wanted, and Lance shifted a bit of the hosting duties off to him.Everybody loved a feast and things would be a lot better when everyone had food in them.He noticed after a while that he’d been drifting closer to Keith, as if he needed backup for dealing with his family.He didn’t.His family was his backup.They always had been.He helped Mamá with the vegetables, he joked with Luis, and got photos of the twins from Marco.They were growing so much. 

Princess Allura and Coran came along when everything was about ready to go to the table and Shiro introduced the two Alteans to everyone.It wasn’t a bad meeting, but there was still a bit of adjustment for a lot of people who might not necessarily have believed in aliens the day before.Maybe there was some wonder for the aliens that had drawn their kids into a war.Still though, food kept everyone happy, especially when they were all sitting around a table together.

“I’m afraid your children are all terrible storytellers,” Princess Allura said.“You have to tell me all about them before they left home.”

Oh, were there stories.Lance had to remind Miguel that no one had asked for embarrassing stories but this had gotten him drowned out by Pidge and Hunk demanding more.There was even a story about Keith from Mr. Shirogane who had tried to take Keith on a hiking trip that had ended early with a trip to a climbing gym when he’d realized he couldn’t keep Keith from climbing every boulder and cliff face they came across.Of course Lance had stories.Stories that made it sound like an adventure more than a war.It felt good to share them with his family.

The thing was, was that it was going well.His family was there, and yeah, they were still worried, but they were already worried, and at least now they’d know where he was.They could stay in contact afterwards. That was good.The food was good. Everything was good until it wasn’t. 

It was just a passing thought of how horrible it would be if his symptoms flared up in front of his family.He didn’t want them to see that.Then the conversation around him dropped off from his awareness and he imagined them seeing him when it was bad.Imagined them finding out about his cell, about Tevis.Then he was thinking about Tevis and he knew it was only a matter of time.He was going to flip out in front of his family, they were going to see how messed up he was.He looked around the room, expecting everyone to be staring at him but they were laughing about something Shiro had said.Keith was smiling.He had to get out of there before someone noticed. 

“Lance?” Someone called after him.

“Bathroom,” Lance said.He hurried out of there and went down the hall.Everything was becoming too much.He wasn’t going to make it to his room.He ducked into an alcove and sank down.He tried to ground himself but the effort of just telling himself to go through the exercises was too much.

“Lance.Lance you’re all right.Come on, breath with me chamaco.”

Lance gasped in a breath and tried to hold it just so he could slow down. 

“You’re okay,” Tío Mateo said.“You’re safe here, your friends are safe here, your family is safe here.”There was a cadence to the way he talked.

Lance looked up into his Tío’s eyes.“I couldn’t get away, I couldn’t make it stop.”

He’d always thought his tío would understand.

“You did,” Tío Mateo said.“You’re right here with me.”

“I wasn’t good enough,” Lance said.

“You’ve always been good enough.”

“People still died,” Lance said.

“You did what you could,” Tío Mateo said.

“You don’t know that,” Lance said.

“Yes I do,” Tío Mateo said.“I know you.Breath with me Lance.”

So Lance did.

“You’re doing good chamaco, you’re doing so good.”

“I’m not a kid anymore,” Lance said.

“Ah, you left.You still owe us a year before you get to be all grown up,” Tío Mateo said.

Lance tried to smile for him, and wondered how many smiles Tío Mateo had given just for him. 

“You know,” Tío Mateo said.“I could carry a rifle again.”

Lance shook his head.“We agreed when this all started.We weren’t going to let the war come home.Maybe that’s not possible, but I can’t… Besides, Mamá would never forgive me if I took her baby brother away.”

“Your mamá is never going to forgive me for teaching her baby to use a rifle.”

“I’d be dead if you hadn’t,” Lance said. 

“You need someone looking out for you,” Tío Mateo said.

“My team looks out for me,” Lance said.“You have no idea how much.”

“I think I do,” Tío Mateo said.

“You weren’t special ops, were you?” Lance asked.

“Would you let me help you if I said yes?”

Lance shook his head.“You wouldn’t even be on the castle, much less the strike team,” Lance said.“Stay home.Please. I’m keeping the war away from you.”

“You’re not just in your ships, are you?” Tío Mateo asked.

Lance shook his head. “Don’t tell them”

“I won’t,” Tío Mateo said.“I just don’t get it.”

Lance sighed.It really did sound great.He flew around in the most powerful spaceship in the galaxy.He was practically invulnerable.That just wasn’t really how it worked though.

“It’s the bond,” Lance said.“With Blue.It’s about being who I am, being true to who I am, being the Blue Paladin.The Blue Paladin can’t just stay in the cockpit.It’s not who they are, it’s not who I am.I could stay in the cockpit, but that cockpit wouldn’t be in Blue.I’m a part of the Strike Team.Keith and I, we… Just… don’t worry, okay?I’ve got the best armor in the galaxy.”

“And the best doctors?” Tío Mateo asked.

“They’re helping me with, um…” he pointed to his head, and laughed weakly.“They said they could just make me forget, but I can’t… I… I need to remember.”

“You’re going to be okay chamaco,” Tío Mateo said.“You’re going to come home someday, and your family will be there for you.”

“Even if I’ve changed?” Lance asked.

“Of course,” Tío Mateo said.

“Are you okay?” Lance asked.He’d never asked before.He'd never felt like he could.

Tío Mateo hmmmed.“Sometimes,” he said.“Most of the time.”

“Because the family’s there?”

“Always,” Tío Mateo said.“Even though I’d changed.”

“We should get back,” Lance said.“I don’t want them to worry.”

Tío Mateo reached up and ruffled his hair.“Don’t worry about that, worrying about you is our job.”

“Hey did you notice I’m taller than you?”

“Must be all that time you spend in zero gravity,” Tío Mateo said.

* * *

There was always the question of when to stop recording.Hettie left the private moment and found the restroom eventually, she just hadn’t been looking for it when she’d first left the dining room.Shiro had been vague about his time as a captive of these Galra, but he hadn’t exactly made it a secret that it had been a traumatic experience.It shouldn’t be any surprise that one of the children fighting was also dealing with the trauma of war. 

The truth was that while she was a conflict journalist, she hadn’t covered an actual war in over twenty years.There was so much that was the same in the conflicts she covered, but not all of it fit with the essential parts of the story.PTSD wasn’t something she’d really covered during her career.When she’d been embedded during the Last War she’d been new, and as much as she had gone into journalism because she wanted to hold war makers accountable, she’d wanted to do it from the front lines.She’d been desperate to get out after the Arctic, but that had nothing to do with the danger.While she had been following soldiers around the battlefield, others had been reporting on the toll that kept building back home. 

Here though, there were no soldiers back home.They were all right here, and Hettie was the only one who could tell their story.She was the only one who could remind everyone on Earth what war cost.It cost a boy who smiled brilliantly for his family and then tried to hide in an alcove when he couldn’t show them his pain.It cost children coming home in coffins while their sister stayed on the front so someone could have mining rights.

Hettie returned to the dining room.Lance and his uncle were already there, and the boy looked tired, but he was smiling.Hettie eyed the two aliens and Shiro.She had a month to discover the ins and outs of this conflict.She thought she knew what Shiro wanted, what he believed.These Alteans though. Looking at the princess, she didn't look any older than Lance or Keith, though that didn’t mean anything with an alien, Hettie supposed.Shiro had said that they were the last of their species.She had no idea how she could go about verifying that, but their motivation was at the very least somewhat on display.Then there was the council Shiro had mentioned.A month to untangle everything, and an entire side in the war she might never get a chance to talk to.She was going to have her work cut out for her.

* * *

Alternate title for the next chapter: Keeping Up with the Paladins


	2. What You Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. I didn't abandon this, it was just a bit like pulling teeth. Chapter title is from the song of the same name by Two Door Cinema Club.

They never had any intention of putting the war on hold just so they could say ‘hi’ to their families.A few hours later and it was time to say goodbye.There were going to be missions the following morning, and they still had preparations to make.There were tears as they parted, but Lance was happy, as painful as it was to see them go so soon.There were goodbye hugs with everyone, and Mamá got seconds.

Pidge and her mom were nearby and Lance could hear Mrs. Holt admonishing her to stay safe.“And I’m going to expect a message at least twice a week.If I’m going to go back to work with the Garrison, then I’d better be hearing from my baby so I don’t strangle someone.”

“Oh!” Lance said.“I almost forgot.”He’d forgotten earlier in his worry that someone would say something they shouldn’t.He ran over to Pidge and scooped her up in his arms, approximating, as well as he could, how one would hold a baby with someone who was just a bit larger.She squawked and clung onto his neck. 

“Mamá, papá, everyone.This is my tiny baby, she is very smol.”

Pidge jabbed him in the ribs. 

“I told you I would,” Lance said, putting her down.“Mrs. Holt, we can talk about joint custody later.”

“I suppose I’ll have to ask you to look out for her,” Mrs. Holt said.

“Hey!” Pidge protested.

“Way ahead of you,” Lance said.

“Well, she might murder you tonight, but I think she’ll want you to take care of yourself too.”

That was a tall order, but Lance knew he wasn’t doing it alone.

“You’ll have to tell us more about your friends,” Tía Elena said. “Colleen is right, you had all better be staying in touch now that there aren’t any excuses.”

“I will,” Lance said.He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain the fact that he’d given Pidge a chromosome, but he would. 

“Make sure you get the twins on when I call tonight,” Lance said.“And next time Veronica comes home.”

Each family was going home with an FTL communicator.Face to face conversations would have to wait for whenever they were in range, but they'd be able to send messages otherwise.

“They’ve missed you,” Marco said.Lance knew it was an understatement.

“I’ve missed them too,” Lance said.“I’m going to owe them a trip to space.”

Marco hugged him.“Over my dead body,” he said, patting him on the back.

“A month?” Mamá asked.

“A month,” Lance agreed.

There were almost as many hugs as there were when they’d arrived.

* * *

When the Paladins returned from Earth, minus their families, Hettie watched as theyreturned to their duties.Pidge left for the intelligence wing, Hunk for the engineering decks, and Shiro for his office.Hettie followed Keith and Lance to the training deck where she was introduced to the Strike Team. 

“How do you find working with humans?” Hettie had asked when the two team leads had offered their greetings.

The crisp formality shattered for a moment, and the one named Katollis slapped Lance on the back and said, “They can keep up now and then.”

Lance laughed.“We’ve been known to live through a mission or two.Alright castle, let’s get a map in here.”

A holographic map snapped up in front of them and Lance started reviewing the next day’s battle plan.

It probably didn’t make any sense to ascribe an age to an alien, or a level of maturity, but Hettie got the sense of seasoned warriors from the Antedians; they were confident without being cocky.It wasn’t exactly odd to see someone so young commanding more experienced soldiers, the butter bar Lieutenant in charge of her platoon when she’d first gone to the front lines had been almost as young as she had been and the seasoned Staff Sergeant who she had reported to had shown him all the same respect as he would the company commander, but it was so odd knowing that Lance Sanchez had only just become an adult in the eyes of the law; just barely an adult and briefing the fleet’s equivalent of Seal Team Six.

“Alright Alpha, for your part tomorrow I want you running breeching drills followed by a quick evac to the landing up there.Bravo, you’re going to be in a civilian heavy area, so you’re going to be running shoot/no-shoot drills till you need the Ocaampans to give you new arms, alright?Keith, anything to add?”

There was a pause before Keith said, “I’m going to be leading Alpha tomorrow for the breech.I’m going to take Antin and Ravonin in the lead.”

“Team leads?” Lance asked.

“I saw some of you forgetting the past few phoebs in our last mission, and ducking for cover instead of using your shields,” Erriss said.“I see that tonight and I’ll shoot you myself.”

“I was discussing the mission with Erriss earlier,” Katollis said.“She doesn’t think Alpha can do it in under fifty doboshs.I told her we would do it in thirty.”

There was a noise, from what Hettie presumed was Alpha team, something that didn’t translate, but something that she was sure was reflected in battle cries in militaries around Earth.

“Alright,” Lance said.“Halo, you’re with me, the atmosphere is thin and the gravity’s intense; this is going to be one of our fastest decels, so get your jetpacks, we’re doing timing drills.”

The training deck was massive and it was divided up into three sections, the terrain morphing and changing to suit the needs of each group.Keith was running through close quarters training with Alpha, Erriss was running through urban operations with Bravo, and a small handful of members from both teams had assembled with Lance in one corner.The gravity was turned down low, and they shot up to the top of the room, letting themselves fall back down, but some sort of projector made them appear to be falling towards a cityscape below at a much faster rate. 

Hettie was confused, because the two humans weren’t overseeing training, they were taking part in it as if they had a specific role in the group.Keith had talked about taking the lead.She wasn’t sure anymore she understood their role in combat.Though one thing she was becoming more and more sure of was that Lance worked well on camera in a way that made the scene more engaging.She had five figures to tell the story of the war with, and they all had important stories to tell, to show the human toll of another war.Pidge seemed the obvious choice.The literal child who was fighting on the front of the war, but she had such a personal stake in it.She was looking for her family, and that in itself was important to tell, but the sweeping majority of people on Earth did not have a personal stake in the war.So many people on Earth had children like Lance or Hunk who could get swept up into it. 

Hettie wasn’t sure what time it was onboard the ship, but by the time the teams were done with practice, it was fairly late into the evening back home.The teams were released and the leads stayed back to talk to the two paladins.Hettie approached, keeping to the peripheries.

“Maintenance updates?” Lance asked, reading off of some sort of wrist computer with a holographic display.

“About half-way through everything that took damage yesterday,” Erriss said.“Kohkaachin is going in with a ground team rig tomorrow.”

“The whole rig?” Lance asked.

“The whole rig,” Erriss agreed.

“General Nord may want to get a different perspective on how that’s functioning, ask Major Trent’s XO if they want to debrief.”He checked his computer again.“After action from Mandaar Three?”

“Still reviewing the recordings,” Erriss said. 

There was footage.

“We sent scans to the battle engineers,” Katollis said.“They think they might have a solution if we run into that again.”

“Keep us posted,” Lance said. 

He paused a moment and then Keith spoke up.“I need more input for equipment upgrades; also evals.”

“We’ll send you preliminary work on evals tonight,” Katollis said. “We’re about half way through.Equipment will probably be another two quintents.” 

Keith nodded.

“Alright,” Lance said.“I’m feeling good about tomorrow’s mission, but I want one more run with Halo before we start; I want them here half a varga before morning training.I’ll see you then.”

Katollis and Erriss gave a double handed salute that seemed to cover their eyes and left.

Hettie held off just a moment longer.

“So,” Lance said.“I know I said I’d kick your ass on the obstacle course, but…”

“The twins?”

“It’s getting late there, and we’re jumping out in the morning,” Lance said.

“I’m sure I can beat you all the same tomorrow,” Keith said, the rigid and perfunctory boy suddenly loosening up and smiling at Lance.“Where are you staying tonight?”

“I haven’t decided,” Lance said.“Though Hunk’s going to want to gossip tonight, I’m sure.”

“My door’s open,” Keith said.He sounded so earnest.

“I know,” Lance said, smiling.“Right, well I’m going to rush to my communicator.”

“Good night, Lance,” Keith said.

“I think it will be,” Lance said.He left, leaving Hettie alone with Keith.He turned around, not quite looking surprised to see her so close.

“Shiro wanted to brief you tonight before the battle tomorrow,” he said, looking a bit wary of her.

“Perhaps you could walk me there,” Hettie said.

“I’m supposed to be there, too,” Keith said. 

They stared at each other for a moment.

“Right,” Keith said and turned towards the door.

Hettie followed him, matching his brisk pace.

“So, tell me a bit about yourself,” Hettie said.“I’m sure there are a lot of people on Earth who will want to know more about the first people to leave the solar system.”

“Shiro and the Holts were the first,” Keith said.

“Still,” Hettie said.“You and the other Paladins are essentially representing Earth to the rest of the galaxy.”

“I guess,” Keith said.

Ice breakers might not work on this one.Some people just responded better to a more direct approach.

“So Shiro told me a bit about what happened on Earth before you all left,” Hettie said.“I think I have a good idea of how Lance, Hunk, and Pidge got involved, but you weren’t one of the missing cadets.What were you doing there?I’m not sure you were even on anyone’s radar.”

“The Garrison probably knows I’m involved,” Keith said.“I got to punch Iverson one last time before I left.”

“You weren’t a cadet at the time?” Hettie asked.

Keith hesitated.“I got booted from the program,” he said.

“For punching Iverson?” Hettie asked.

“Something like that,” Keith said.

“So what were you doing there that night?” Hettie asked.

“Waiting for Shiro, I guess,” Keith said.

“You knew he was coming?” Hettie asked.

“I knew something was,” Keith said, like that was an answer.At least he was giving her answers.

“How?”

“The Alteans who left Blue behind left an astral calendar carved into the wall of the caves that marked the time and location of Shiro’s return,” Keith said.

“Shiro made it sound like the Blue Lion had been there for thousands of years,” Hettie said. 

“It was,” Keith said.“It’s alchemy I guess.”

Hettie wasn’t sure if he was messing with her.“What did you do after you left the Garrison?”

“Started looking for Blue, I guess,” Keith said.

He guessed at a lot.

“You knew the Lion was there?” Hettie asked.

“I knew something was there,” Keith said.“I felt her.”

“Lance’s Lion,” Hettie said.Shiro had made it sound like there was something connecting each Paladin to the individual Lion.

Keith shrugged.“Allura would tell you it was fate, or something.That we were all placed where we needed to be so Voltron could return.”

“Do you believe it was fate?” Hettie asked.Fate sold.

Keith didn’t say anything for a moment.“I don’t think it matters if it was.We’re here either way.”

“I think it matters if you think victory is preordained,” Hettie said.

“I know it isn’t,” Keith said.“Things are different now I guess.We have a chance with the alliance, but in the beginning it seemed pretty hopeless.Even if some force was guiding us all here.”

“So why did you stay?” Hettie asked.

Keith thought for a moment.“Sometimes things just need to be done,” he said simply before his voice became a bit heated.“The Empire can’t go unchallenged.”

“They took your brother,” Hettie said.

“They’ve taken a lot,” Keith said.

What would they take in a war with Earth?

They reached an office.

“I’ve got the reporter here,” Keith said, out loud.

“You can call me Hettie.”Everyone else seemed to be on a first name basis.

“I’ve got Hettie here,” Keith called out again.

“Come on in,” Shiro’s voice sounded, as if there wasn’t a door in between them, and not as if it was coming from any speaker.The doors slid open and Hettie was greeted to an office with a large viewport to the fleet outside.The inside of the office was largely empty.There was a largely empty desk that Shiro sat behind with a few chairs opposite of him.There was a large crest behind him, the only decoration on the walls.It was the Voltron symbol from the chest pieces of their armor with a circle around it.Threaded through the circle were five planets and a mechanically stylized lion’s head at the top.Besides a potted plant that vaguely looked like a purple ficus, and a framed photo of the five paladins and the two Alteans on the desk, there were no other decorations in the room.

Shiro motioned for them to sit down.As they did, the two wide screens in front of him slid to either side out of the way.“I know it’s getting late for an east coaster, but we’re resuming missions bright and early tomorrow morning, so I wanted to let you know what to expect.”

“I’m used to jet lag,” Hettie said.The castle seemed to only be a few hours off from New York.

“Great,” Shiro said.“Here.”He slid a sleek watch across the desk.“When you put that on, your tablet and schedule will switch to ship time. Zero five thirty is wakeup for first shift, and that’s wake up for the tactical teams on most days.Morning workout is zero six hundred.You are welcome to observe, or join if you want to go out into the field.”

“She’s going out into the field?” Keith asked.He didn’t look like he thought that was a good idea.

“I’ll actually be leaving that up to you, Keith,” Shiro said.“Hettie can go over her battle field experience with you later, but it will be up to you to determine if she’s ready to observe missions.”

Keith looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time.

“Are you better suited for distance or close quarters combat?” Keith asked. 

“I won’t be joining in combat,” Hettie said.“Just observing.”

“Right,” Keith said.“But if you need to defend yourself, can you shoot a rifle?”

“Combat journalists do not carry guns,” Hettie said with more calm than she felt.

“That’s stupid,” Keith said.

“Keith,” Shiro said, holding up his hand in a staying motion towards Keith.“Hettie,” he said.“I can assure you, the Empire will not care about journalistic impartiality.”

“I do,” Hettie said.“I am not here to fight in a war, I am here to show Earth what is happening.”

“You can’t do that if you’re dead,” Keith said.

“I’m pretty sure that if the only thing keeping me from dying on a battle field is a gun then I’ll already be sitting in my own grave.We don’t carry weapons, we are civilians.I am not here to take sides, I am here for the truth.”

“Sides? The _truth_ is that the Galra won’t care if you’re a civilian,” Keith said.“They sure didn’t care that there weren’t any weapons on the Heracles.”

“I think we should table this discussion,” Shiro said.He didn’t sound upset like his younger brother.“It isn’t as though you will be going onto a battle field tomorrow.Speaking about tomorrow though, the galley is never closed, so you can get breakfast whenever you’d like.There’s a glarfax in the watch,” Shiro said, tapping the box he’d slid across the table.“It’s using the rest of us as a baseline, so it should warn you if you’re about to eat anything poisonous to a human, but it won’t know if it’s something you specifically are allergic to.Next time we stop by Ocaampa we can get you scanned if you want.

“Always use your communicator first in any emergency.You’re welcome in the morning briefing, though everything going into the room is scanned for anything nefarious.It's up to you if you want your personal electronics to get scanned.Short of making sure there isn’t anything that will transmit our meetings to the Galra, we don’t go looking through people’s files.I’m largely leaving it up to you on how you want to observe things, or what you want to observe.For interviews though, please go through the fleet coordinators office.They’ve been instructed to give you a fair bit of leeway.Instructions for that, and pretty much everything else are on your tablet and if it isn’t you can always ask the computer.Any questions for me?”

“I’d like to be in one of the Lions tomorrow during missions,” Hettie said.

“You won’t have the best view from the passengers seat,” Shiro said.“We can set you up with a feed.”

“A feed is less personal for the viewer,” Hettie said.“Its clinical; you want people to be able to get a feel for the weight of this, it needs a personal touch.”

Shiro looked thoughtful.“It shouldn’t be an issue for an engineer to throw in a seat with a better view,” he said.“Tell you what.Observe from the bridge tomorrow.We’ll put a work order in. Keith can take you out when we get it set up.”

She didn’t think Keith looked happy about that, but he didn’t say anything. 

“That works,” Hettie said.“I’d like to get into the field as soon as possible.”

“We’ll make it happen,” Shiro said.“Anything else.”

“I understand there’s footage from previous battles,” Hettie said.

“It’s not too impersonal for you?” Shiro asked.He said it lightly, and with a smile.

“I’m just trying to get a better understanding of what has been happening since you started fighting in this war,” Hettie said.

“A lot of it’s tied up in sensor readings, which makes them classified, but we can have some scrubbed for you.If you’re looking for the brief history of the fleet though, there’s various documentarians that pop up from time to time, again, the fleet coordinator’s office can help you there.”

The good stuff was always classified. 

“Do you know your way back to your quarters from here?” Shiro asked.Hettie nodded.“If you ever get lost, the ship’s computer can act as a guide.”He stood up.“I look forward to working with you.”He held out his hand.

Hettie got up and shook it.They wished each other a good night and Hettie walked out.Shiro’s “Just a moment, Keith,” left her to walk to the nearest lift by herself.

It had been a long day, but as soon as she got to her room she went back to her prepping.The outline was expanded and she wrote down a number of key questions.She started thinking about interviews.Obviously the Alteans were at the top of the list, but she didn’t want to go into that until she had more to work off of.After them, she would need meetings with representatives from each of the nations.She would discover the inner workings of the war, and she would make sure Earth stayed out of it.

* * *

Keith woke up alone.It wasn’t like Lance had made a habit of staying over, but waking up in Lance’s arms was something he thought of whenever he woke up to solitude.It was something he would always crave.He didn’t usually linger in bed once he woke up, but that morning Keith spent some time thinking about his soulmate.About how close they’d been getting.He was furious that it had happened because of what the Galra had done to him.He was furious that he hadn’t been there until it was all over.

Keith got a pre-workout snack from the galley, before heading to the training deck.Coran hadn’t stopped bugging him about his metabolism since Keith had let him review the workup the Ocaampans had given him.The training deck was empty

“Computer, begin simulation Keith Twelve,” he said.

The gladiator appeared, along with a handful of drones.

“You are not armed with a training weapon,” the computer said.“Do you wish to proceed?”

“We’ll see if they can keep me from the equipment rack,” Keith said.“Proceed.”

The Gladiator wouldn’t keep him from the weapons, and the Galra would never keep him away from Lance ever again. 

* * *

Hettie woke up in time to get to the galley before the morning training started.She had no intention of ever being late.There was no coffee, which was concerning.Pretty much everything she could find that wasn’t left over from the evening prior was, well, alien to her.Her new watch warned her away from a couple of items and she settled on a fruit like object and some sort of empanada like thing.Perhaps it was true that literally every culture fried dough.She’d leave reporting on alien foods to Buzz Feed though. 

There were already members of the Strike Team on the training deck when she arrived, putting on equipment, as well as Keith and Shiro, who were fighting a large robot in the far corner.The way they fought was intense, and some of the members of the Strike Team were clearly watching with interest.Shiro was definitely the more experienced of the two, but his brother was keeping up.Lance came in moments later wearing a similar under suit to what the Strike Team had on under their armor. 

“Okay Halo,” Lance said.“Who’s ready for some training?”

Halo was very enthusiastically ready for training.Lance’s head tracked Keith and Shiro’s bout as he walked across the deck.His focus was on his team, though, as soon as he put on a chest rig and they all went to the same area they had been in the day before.They used their thrusters to get up to the landing above, the same as the day before.She could probably get some stunning imagery of them falling into the projected city below if she could get up to the landing.She wasn’t there to show kids back home how cool fighting in the space war was, though. 

She approached Shiro and Keith when they paused in their match.

“I’d like to get some experience in the gear your ground teams wear,” Hettie said, after greetings had been made.

“I haven’t forgotten you want to get into the thick of it,” Shiro said.“You can join us for calisthenics and when we switch to tactical training we’ll have someone get you set up.”

“Is a lot of your training focused on ground troop combat?” Hettie asked.

“The Galra are entrenched on a number of worlds with civilian populations,” Shiro said.“We don’t intend to just blow everything up from orbit.That’s their tactics.”

“I was more referencing to the Paladins, I’m sure you have separate ground troops from Voltron pilots.”

“We have a strong emphasis on close quarters combat because we can’t always stay in our lions, and that’s when we’re at our most vulnerable,” Shiro said.

“I’ve gotten the impression that Keith and Lance will be leading the Strike Team in their mission today.”

“They will be,” Shiro agreed.“And surely it begs the question-“

“If Voltron pilots are next to irreplaceable, why send them into combat at their most vulnerable.”

Shiro looked at his younger brother.“Keith?”

Keith definitely looked put on the spot as he gave a glare at the camera on her shoulder.

“Our bond with our lions is about who we are,” Keith said.“I need to face my enemies head on.”

It wasn’t the complete truth.As closed off as he was, he didn’t evade very well.

“It sounds cheesy, but Voltron is stronger when we are true to ourselves,” Shiro said.“What that means for the others is theirs to tell.”

“So what does it mean for you?” Hettie asked.

“I’ll let you know when I figure it out,” Shiro said.“For now, I know where I’m needed.Usually that means leading and coordinating from my Lion.Sometimes that means putting boots on ground.”

Hettie wondered just how much of the mysticism was just for the mythos of Voltron.It seemed to be a central icon for their alliance.

“A more important question,” Hettie said.“Is there coffee on this ship?”

“You should ask Pidge that question,” Shiro said.

She was used to getting non-answers, but seriously, she needed coffee.

The rest of the paladins and the strike team arrived and Lance split off from his team to join the paladins.Calisthenics, it turned out, was a fair bit different for humans than it was for Antedians.At first she thought it was just going to be a warm up, before tactical training, but the warm up turned into an intense workout that would have challenged a gym rat back in Soho.After a point, she began to wonder how they were planning to go about their missions for the day, and that was when tactical training began. 

Hettie took the opportunity to move to the side to catch her breath and find some water. 

“I am Staff Sergeant Malytia,” someone suddenly said besides her.She would have jumped if she hadn’t been exhausted.She turned and found herself meeting one of the Plynthion crew members for the first time.“I will help you with your gear.”Hettie just nodded, unable to manage a proper response.

She glanced over to the Paladins, two of whom were fighting the large robot while the others were running an obstacle course that seemed to involve destroying targets along the way.The Antedians were still running their own separate training.

It was compact, but there was a lot built into the gear she was given.It was also surprisingly light weight.It was hard to imagine it stopping some sort of high tech energy weapon.Malytia was involved in continuing training for newly arrived ground troops to the fleet.He was used to dealing with people who had already had training on their home world and Hettie had to ask a lot of follow up questions where he glossed over some items. 

“Is this equipment standard across the fleet?” Hettie asked.

“Not every role requires aerial maneuverability, and some recruits are better off without it.Of course the most advanced equipment is front lined to our most elite units, but we are attempting to back fill as equipment is being produced.If you will be following the Paladins into battle, it would be best for you to have gear that will help you keep up.Though you are the only human we have had to make equipment for, it will be good information for when more of your people join the Alliance.”

Hettie resisted the grimace at that.“Well, let’s show the viewers at home what this stuff can do,” she said. 

After she was kitted up she was run through different exercises, none of which were easy in her exhausted state, and looking over at the Paladins, she wondered how they were completing their training in such clearly exhausted states.The armor, though, included some sort of muscular skeletal reinforcement.She was stronger, somehow, and she could jump further than she had any business jumping.There was an exercise to get her used to relying on a shield and another that seemed to be for the purpose of training her brain to disregard the feeling that her armor should encumber her movement when she was still fairly agile in it.Lastly was training to use the thrusters on the back, which could have gone better.

“If you require the medical bay we can resume at a different time,” Malytia said.

“I can keep going,” Hettie said, rolling out her shoulder.

Beginning maneuvers with the jet pack involved only quick bursts to assist in maneuverability.In the current case that was jumping over an obstacle.

“Remember to have your shield up,” Malytia said.“You do not know what is on the other side.

Her arms wanted to be flung out to catch herself if she fell, though.

“Not every recruit is suited for these types of maneuvers,” Malytia reminded her.

“I will be,” Hettie assured them.

She had come to tell the story of these children from Earth who had been drafted into a war, she would need to get familiar with different elements of the alliance, but she had to go in with the paladins. 

“Let’s try it again,” Hettie said.

* * *

“Locker rooms are over there,” Pidge told the reporter after things wrapped up.“And Shiro said to hook you up with some caffeine.”

“Yes, please.”

Pidge tossed her a bottle of pills.“We brought a few cases of coffee back with us yesterday, but we’re rationing out Earth stuff for now.Lance figured out we could make caffeine pills back in the beginning.”

“How many?” Hettie asked.

“One tablet is one cup,” Pidge said.“Just ask when you need more.”She headed towards the locker room.

“Is that a normal workout before missions?” Hettie asked, following her.She stashed the camera mounted to her shoulder in her bag.

“Worried we’re hazing you?” Pidge asked her.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Hettie said.

Pidge stopped at the cooler outside the entrances to the locker rooms.“Red’s for humans, green’s for Antedians,” she said, pulling out a bottle and handing it to Hettie.

“This is?”

“The best thing the Ocaampans ever did for us,” Pidge said, grabbing a bottle for herself.“By the time missions start you won’t be able to tell you even worked out today.”

“It’s safe for humans?” Hettie asked.

“It was made for humans,” Pidge said.“By the same people telling you what’s safe to eat.”Pidge held up her own glarfax before chugging her own post workout reset.

Pidge wasn’t sure if the reporter was reassured or if the prospect of dealing with the soreness following a large workout otherwise won her over, but she downed the sports drink and followed Pidge into the locker room. 

“From what I’ve heard, you sound like one of the busiest people on the ship,” Hettie said conversationally.

“Lance says I’m a bit of a control freak,” Pidge said.“Is this an interview?”

“I don’t generally interview people in locker rooms,” Hettie said.“Though I might be on the look out for things to bring up later.You could be my first victim.”

“I’ll try to work you into my schedule,” Pidge said.“That being said, the only work, as far as I’m concerned, are the missions.Never work a day in your life and all that.”

“Did you want to go into intelligence before?” Hettie asked.

Pidge snorted.The most she could say was that she’d considered being a hacker as a side gig.“I had too many career paths before me, back then,” she said.

“You were a bit young to choose just one,” Hettie said, and Pidge knew that look in her eye.

“I knew what I wanted when I came here,” Pidge said.“I wasn’t ever going to go into military intel back on Earth, but out here?Breaking into systems I wouldn’t have seen in my lifetime back on Earth?Intel out here is going to find my family, but it’s also fun as hell.”

“And after?” Hettie asked.

Pidge hadn’t ever really thought about it.“After the war?Probably go home and school everyone on how it’s done.”That didn’t sound right though.She’d send her notes for the techies on Earth to unscramble, but teaching wasn’t exactly her thing. Was she going back to Earth full time?Besides her mom, of course, there were things she missed from back home, but everything she wanted to do was far and away from a planet that had a lot of catching up to do.

“What about after you find your family?” Hettie asked.

“Oh, I’ll stay with Intel, I think,” Pidge said.“I’m good at it, and I like it, though I might not micromanage it so much.”Lance did say she was a control freak, but how could she leave it up to someone else to look for her family?

Pidge noticed the reporter looking skeptically at one of the alcoves for clothing.

“It really will clean your clothes,” Pidge said.

“It’s not more magic, is it?” Hettie asked.

“Oh, you’ve already gotten the Alchemy spiel?”Pidge asked.“Don’t even bring it up around me unless you want me to go off on a rant.The lockers, though, just use a mix of ionizers and super precise hypersonic sound waves to clean away dirt and grime.You’ll want to leave your camera bag up top though.”

“You make it sound mundane,” Hettie said. 

“When you learn that they use spacial field warping to get rid of excess heat in the ship, some things become mundane.”

Pidge acted as a cultural interpreter as Hettie was exposed to Antedian locker room antics, and then made sure to point out the briefing room on the way to breakfast.

“You’re handling aliens pretty well,” Pidge said.

“I’m screaming on the inside,” Hettie said.Pidge snorted.“How did you handle it?”

“I’d already gotten used to the idea that aliens had abducted my family.Also, meeting the Alteans was like First Contact lite.I just wish we’d had some Ocaampans front and center when you got on board.”

She left the reporter in the kitchen and grabbed some goo to go as she headed to the intel section to check out whatever reports and intercepts had come in during the night shift.

“Honored Paladin, your guidance brings clarity to the unseen” was the usual greeting she got from whichever senior Kormian on her staff was in the room at the time.Every discipline within the Kormian military had their own way of greeting their supervisors.

“And I slept well knowing you kept watch,” Pidge said.It wasn’t exactly what was expected, but the lower ranked Kormians didn’t seem to care as much as those in the higher echelons of their society.Lance said the Kormian ground troops were completely different when none of the officers were around.“Anything pressing to report?”She’d get to the meat of it before third mission, but she usually checked for anything big in the morning.

“A significant number of cruisers dropped into the Tairen system approximately three Vargas ago. Reports were sent to the council,” Tieēan said.They’d been running the night shift for as long as the Sif had been in the alliance. 

“Show me,” Pidge said. 

A holo sprang up in the middle of the room.

“Scan out to include the ninth front,” Pidge said.She frowned when she saw its placement in relation to their current focal points.

“Anything interesting in the system, or are they just staging?”

“We believe it is uninhabited, and there are no records of any significant resources that are not readily available further inside of Galran space.Scrubbers didn’t pick up anything significant.”

“Throw up the chatter for the past ten quintants,” Pidge said.“Filter out anything during or right after a raid and color code by ship class.”She studied the new features on the map.“Zoom here and give me a time lapse.”

She watched the run-through a few times. 

“What’s this here?” Pidge asked.

Tieēan looked up the system.“There is a minor depot there that services transports and atmospheric craft.”

“Play the time lapse again and watch this cluster,” Pidge said.

“You believe they went on radio silence and stopped at the depot?”

“Possible,” Pidge said.“Do more analysis, and have next shift add the behavior to the scrubbers, and get me a request for a probe to be dropped in range.”

“It will be done when you return from second mission,” Tieēan said.

“Good work,” Pidge said, and then went over to scroll through the intercepts.Shiro kept bugging her to give feedback to her teams.She scanned the few Galran intercepts they’d decoded and then turned to the non-Galran intercepts that had been caught by the scrubbers.Something caught her eye.

“Anyone know what a ‘forced sequence drive’ is?” Pidge asked.

There was a moment of silence before Tieēan replied, “I believe it is a somewhat primitive version of the gravity generators used in the fleet.”

Pidge took a moment to think that out.“So a sequence of gravitons? Would that require a stable superheavy ferrous metal?”

“I do not know,” Tieēan asked.“I can make an inquiry with one of our physicists.”

“No,” Pidge said.“I’ll handle this, it’s not fleet related.”Pidge sent the intercept to her inbox.“Good work everyone.”She left and checked her watch.Not enough time to stop by engineering before the morning briefs.

“Did you eat anything for breakfast?” Lance asked when she slipped into her seat less than a minute before she would have been late.She looked at the bowl of food goo she’d been carrying around everywhere.Which flavor had she gotten?She took a taste.Not-apple, one of her favorites.

“How’d it go last night?” Pidge asked.

“A bit of crying,” Lance said.“Rolando wants me to come home.Camilla does too, but she thinks it’s cool.”

“Did you show off?”

“Did I show off? I turned off the gravity in my room and bounced off the walls.”

“Oh yeah? Is that what happened to your face?” Pidge asked.

“What? I didn’t… Hey,” Lance elbowed her.

“I might have found something,” Pidge said.

“Oh yeah?” Lance asked.

“It’s probably nothing, we picked up an advertisement for parts, but I think it could fit in our supply chain model.”

“Good morning teams,” Shiro had arrived at the front.“It’s another three-mission day and we’re starting with an all element infiltration operation…”

Pidge took notes.They’d been planning this one for a while.The Galra were entrenched within a civilian population and just blowing up the targets wasn’t an option.Voltron would go in, smash up the primary defenses, and then split up to cover landing teams.Pidge, Hunk and Shiro would be covering the skies to keep ground units cleared overhead.Lance and Keith with the Strike Team were going in to sabotage things from the inside while ground units kept Galran troops busy.Shiro did the mission overviews and then one of the Plynthion Generals went over ground operations. The other two missions for the day were a couple of, hopefully quick, smash-and-dash missions.

“Admit it,” Pidge said afterwards.“You just wanted to go skydiving.”

“They won’t see me coming,” Lance said.“Also, I wanted to go skydiving.”

Hunk came up and gave Lance a crushing hug.“Stay safe out there man,” he said.

“Safer than my targets,” Lance said.

“That’s a low bar,” Hunk said.

“What’s a low bar?” Keith asked, sidling up right next to Lance.

“Lance’s flying,” Pidge said.

“Hey!”

“I don’t know,” Keith said.“I think it’s a pretty high bar I’m staying on top of.”

“Oh, you think so, hot shot?”

“I’ll show you during second mission,” Keith said. 

Keith flirted weird.Pidge just wasn’t sure if Lance was flirting back… on purpose.

* * *

The bridge was lively compared to the tour she’d gotten the evening before, communication was constant and about seven crew members of varying races seemed to be handling the main coordination of the fleet’s movement.They seemed to be talking through their communicators, but something seemed to mute them unless they were directly communicating to the rest of the bridge. 

In the center of it all at two stations stood the two Alteans, monitoring a map of the fleet.On the screens in the front though was a more traditional view screen one might see in a Star Trek ship.It was showing the fleet around the castle.

“Is that Voltron?” Hettie asked Petty Officer Arlvin, who was once more acting as her guide.

“It is,” Arlvin said.“It is vastly more powerful when the Paladins are united.”

So wouldn’t it be nice if two of them could stay in their lions?

Hettie hadn’t been sure what to expect when she’d been told that the five mechanical lions merged together to form a single unit, but a massive anthropomorphic robot that flew through space wasn’t it.It was as if someone had shown the Alteans some thousands of years ago an episode of Power Rangers.Though perhaps there were more universal constants besides fried dough.She’d leave it to the academics to hunt that one down.

“All elements, sound off,” Coran ordered.

“Front line is a go.”

“Ground teams are a go.”

“Rear guard is a go.”

“Transports are a go.”

“Voltron is a go,” the princess said.“Opening wormholes now, proceed at signal.”She grasped two raised handles at her station and seemed almost to go into a trance.On the screens in the front that showed the fleet around them, three rips in space opened up and Voltron went through the center one. 

“Cue fleet,” Coran said, moments later. Not long after, ships started streaming through the wormholes.The view screen showed their own movement, but Hettie could feel little to indicate that they were moving.On the other side was a silent battle.The maps showed engagements around the planet, and the view screen focused on Voltron, which went from destroying some sort of alien ship to destroying some sort of large orbital platform.

“Can I hear what the Alteans are hearing?” Hettie asked.

“Of course,” Arlvin said.He relayed the request to someone through his comm and moments later Hettie’s own comm came to life.

“…has lost primary propulsion.”

“Dedalus has them covered.”

“The three reserve cruisers have dropped into section thirteen.Insufficient fleet presence.”

“Admiral Tanith, prepare to deploy backup through wormhole,” the princess said.

“Landing section eight clear.”

“Voltron is prepared to break up,” Shiro said.

“We’re still waiting for landing section three,” Coran said.“Captain Merr-it’s group needs assistance.”

“Redirecting,” Shiro said. 

It was all rather calm, a detached look at the fight.

“The Tan Kin is engaged with an Imperial Cruiser.”It was said with only the slightest of urgency, but it gave the two Alteans pause.

“Do we know who is commanding it?” Coran asked.

“The ship isn’t in our registry; they don’t appear to be a broadcast ship.”

This seemed to give the bridge crew who were on that channel even more pause.

“Add it to the priority list,” the princess said.“Disable it if you can, but otherwise I don’t want it leaving this system.Does Captain Dierbon’s group need backup?”

“We still have superiority of numbers, but none of the Antedian ships will be able to pursue if the cruiser makes a break for it,” Coran said.

“Admiral Tanith, I need three ships capable of keeping up with a cruiser,” the princess said.

“We can spare them in sections five and eleven,” came the response.

“Two wormholes on their ready,” the princess said.

The battle continued.

“What’s the significance of an Imperial Cruiser,” Hettie asked.

“The Galra’s most advanced ships, running missions directly for Emperor Zarkon,” Arlvin replied.“We wouldn’t expect this world to be important enough for an imperial cruiser to visit.”

“And broadcast ships?” Hettie asked.

Arlvin made some sort of face, and from what he said next, Hettie thought it must have been a grimace.“The Galra’s… involuntary blood sport.Peoples they take in the course of their conquest forced to compete for the entertainment of the Empire.Most high ranking Galran commanders have arenas on their ships, most imperial cruisers; they broadcast these fights live.An imperial cruiser that doesn’t broadcast likely has missions that require secrecy.”

Which was why the princess wanted it disabled, and why everyone was on edge to find it in the middle of their operation.

More and more sections around the planet were cleared, and then finally it was time for the landing.

“Ground teams are a go, transports stay just above the cityscape.Escorts, we still have heavy fighter activity.”

“Voltron is broken up, Keith and Lance are approaching their objectives.”

Hettie requested to switch to the Paladin’s channels.

“Bravo team is deployed,” Lance said.“Moving to Halo drop.”

“Alpha team is deployed,” Keith said.“Red is pulling back.”

“More fighters are heading towards landing zones,” Pidge said.“Escorts won’t be able to keep them off their backs.”

“We’re on it,” Hunk said. 

“Lance?” Shiro asked.

“I’ll be pretty focused on other things, but I can have Blue help out where I can,” Lance said.“Halo’s over our drop, going dark and jumping now.”

* * *

Lance quickly went down the line, checking helmets and seal locks, he stopped at the end and Taran tapped Lance’s own helmet and gave a thumbs up. 

“Venting atmosphere,” Lance said, and a thought to Blue made it so.She gave one last thrum of love as the hiss of atmosphere disappeared and he was left with the silence of the relative vacuum, and Blue’s underbelly hatch opened up.They switched their armor to black and jumped one by one.One last thought sent Blue to help keep fighters away from ground units off in the city where Keith’s objective lay.

There was always a thrill to battle.It was inescapable.There was just something about the free fall, though, that couldn’t compare.They were high enough to see the curve of the planet, and see day breaking just around the edge.It was beautiful.He had time until they got into the terminal phase of the approach.He kept an eye on his HUD, monitoring their progress.There wouldn’t be much drift until the atmosphere got thicker, but Lance couldn’t help but keep an eye on it.When it did become an issue, his team made corrections on their own.It was no one’s first jump.When the city came into proper view, he started keeping a close eye on everyone’s vector.The air around him glowed as he blasted through the thin atmosphere.

He looked off into the East, as if he would be able to see off in the distance, signs of the ground teams engaging with the Galra.They were hundreds of kilometers away.The Galra probably thought they had been slick hiding a research station out in the middle of nowhere, but Pidge’s team had gotten wind of it in one of their data hauls, and while they were focused on the invasion, Lance and his team would be landing right on top of their bunker, looking like nothing more than falling debris from the battle in the night’s sky above.

Lance let the chatter from the rest of Team Voltron go to the back of his head as his landing approached.Moments to go for Lance, the first member of his team activated their thrusters before touching down two seconds later.Lance started making final corrections and then, at the last moment, activated his own thrusters.It was a very rapid deceleration, but it only amounted to a modest three Gs when everything canceled out.He touched down on top of the bunker, feeling a solid thrum through his body that he rolled with and came up already running towards the cover of their rally point.The gravity really was intense.His suit supported him, so he could move normally, but he could still feel it in his bones. 

Lance counted his team, all ten of them.He checked in with Blue, a request from Major Pevol had him redirecting her to another section of the fight.

“Halo has landed, no sign we were detected.Moving towards objective.”

They kept along the line of trees that bordered the facility.When the rear entry to the facility was in sight, they got down for a quick look.There were two sentries, and the sensor Coran had sent them with showed the security sensor.Another toy came out and Lance took aim at the sensor while Taran and Mallin took aim at one of the sentries each.

“Target in sight?” Lance asked.

“Target in sight,” they both agreed.

“Fire in three, two, one,” Lance pulled the trigger and a small disk shot out and landed next to the sensor which would now report nothing out of the ordinary.The two sentries went down and Lance gave the ‘go’ to advance.They plugged into the access panel and moments later the hatch opened up.

“We’ve breeched our target,” Lance said, updating Shiro.“No alarms.”

It was Keith that came in over the comm, though.

“Alpha has encountered a fresh wave of sentries,” Keith said, his voice rough, and the sound of battle behind his voice.

“We’re getting reports of unexpected sentry levels throughout the battlespace,” Coran said.

The mission would be quick, and then Lance could call Blue and he’d go make sure Keith and the rest of the strike team were alright.Through his link, Lance checked Blue’s location relative to where Keith was, just in case.

A dozen sentries went down on their way to the lab, and the alarms started blaring.They’d be gone before any reinforcements arrived.Even the Galra slept, though, so there wasn’t much resistance besides sentries on the way there.They were just about to hit their objective when Lance held up his fist, halting his team behind him.They weren’t at their objective, which was further down, but they found themselves next to a viewport into a laboratory.There was a charred and damaged sentry, but its parts had been exploded out and were hanging in midair within some sort of field.There were two Galra in there, and one of them was yelling.Lance aimed his wrist at the transparent aluminum between them and the sound within the room came through.

“I don’t care what you _think,”_ one of them growled, if you want to keep thinking at all you’ll do it.”

“They’ll intercept the signal, we don’t even know what the effects on the sentries will be.This code doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t care, this will be our new weapon, they have so many forces on the planet, we will pin them down and force their fleet to remain until reinforcements can come.They will not be able to stand up to our new sentries.”

Lance’s blood ran cold and he leapt for the door, which was locked.He bypassed the lock and the door opened.They weren’t talking anymore, one Galra had a sword blade tip pointed at the base of the skull of the other who was doing something on the computer.Lance’s shot vaporized the skull and sent the sword flying out of the hands of the other Galra. 

“You’re too late Paladin, you won’t make it out of this base alive.”

“What did you do?” Lance demanded.

“You will see soon enough,” he said.“Or perhaps not.”He leapt into action, but not towards Lance.He threw himself onto the console and pulled something from his belt.Lance shot him, but heard the telltale sound of a Galran charge activating.Lance spun around and charged out the door, grabbing Taran and pulling him with him.

“Cover, cover, cover,” Lance yelled out.

The charge went off behind him, destroying the control panel and he felt the concussive wave jar his bones. 

“Something just happened with the sentries!”

It was Keith over his comm.

Someone pulled Lance up.

“We’re taking casualties!” Keith’s voice came in angry, before calling out.“Form up tight, prepare to push through!”

Even in the heat of battle, Lance felt cold.

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked.

Lance didn’t hear Keith’s response.

“Are you okay?” Mallin asked him.

“Back to the surface,” Lance said.“Double time it.Move out, we need to get back to the fight.”

He checked on Blue.He’d had her keeping fighters off of a squadron that was being pinned down by sentries.She couldn’t fight the same he could, so it was more providing cover and taking shots of opportunity than anything else.She was still busy there.First they’d need to get topside, and then he could worry about Blue.

“Lance, we’re falling back!” It was the rear guard, keeping watch at their exit point.“About a hundred sentries just poured out of the main entrance and they’re heading our way.”

“Reinforce the door, and rally with us,” Lance said.It already sounded like there were more sentries than they’d anticipated at the facility.

He sent the message out, still in denial about what had just happened.“Extraction point is blocked,” Lance said, trying to project confidence.“We’ll make our way through the facility to the secondary site.Can someone get eyes on topside and let us know what conditions are?”

“We’ll get eyes on you in just a tick,” Princess Allura said.

“Escort three is down,” Hunk said.

“We’re in contact with their crew,” Coran said.“No casualties.They’re moving topside for extraction.”

“Hunk, can you get them?”

“I can, but they’ll be exposed without additional cover.”

“Pidge can you cover?”

“Moving.”

“What’s different about the sentries?” Lance asked.

Lance knew what was coming.He knew where that blown out sentry had come from.Still though, rounding the corner and seeing the three sentries there, seeing how they moved, knowing _how_ they would move, it was like a punch in the gut.He took two hits before someone got in front of him, their shield up.Someone pulled him back around the corner and an explosion went off, silencing the drone of Galran blasters.

“These aren’t normal sentries!” Lance exclaimed.

“Explain,” Shiro said. 

“It’s fucking them, it’s the enhanced sentries!” Lance said.“We destroyed them, I stopped it, why are they here, we destroyed them.”

“Focus, Lance,” Shiro said.“What’s your situation?”

More sentries were coming.He could hear them.Hear the pattern of their movement as they ducked and weaved, always ready for the enemy to fire on them.

“We’re hemmed in,” Lance said.“I don’t know what’s going to happen.Oh god, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“What’s going to happen is you’re going to get your team through this,” Shiro said.“Can you call Blue to your location?”

Lance had just a glimpse in his head from Blue’s eyes.

“She’s covering an entire squadron!” 

Lance suddenly looked around.Where was she?!

“Pidge!” he yelled.“Where’s Pidge?”

“Lance, I’m alright, I’m in my lion,” Pidge said. 

A broken sound left his throat.

“This is important,” Pidge said.“Are they exactly like those sentries?”

“Yes, every move is the same,” Lance said.

“Then they aren’t learning,” Pidge said.“They aren’t changing, and you know how to fight them.You’re the only one who knows how to fight them.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen!” Lance said.

“You know them better than anyone,” Shiro said.“And I need you to get your people out of there.”

Lance looked around at his team.They were all doing their job, covering their position from any angle they could be attacked from.Covering Lance.

“I can do that,” Lance said.“Connect me to all ground units.” 

“Just a moment,” Pidge said.

“All units,” he could hear General Nord over his comm.“Mission retreat.Move towards extraction points, all transports prepare to retrieve troops.”

He got back up to his feet.“Grenades,” Lance said.“And then we’re moving out.”

Antonin banked a grenade off the wall and around the corner, just in case anyone was lying in wait.When the explosion went off they started moving immediately, Lance still in the front, his shield up. 

“You’re on Lance,” Shiro said.

“All right, listen up if you can, because you’re facing sentries with new programing and your tactics are going to have to change.You’ll need to work together…”

* * *

“You heard him,” Keith yelled.“Form up, we’re almost there.”He kept listening as Lance spoke, the sounds of his own battle in the background.His voice at least telling him that Lance was still alive.

The sentries had become more effective, but that didn’t mean they knew how to fight Keith.They fought very differently, and both Lance and the sentries had been constrained to the corridors of the cruiser when this programming had been forged.Keith used the more open space to his advantage and he learned quickly how they fought.By the time they got out into the open five members of his team were being carried, guarded by shield formations in front of them.He didn’t know yet if anyone was dead.

There were about twenty sentries waiting for them at their pickup site and then there weren’t as a long pulse of fire from Red reduced them to slag.She landed in front of him, already preparing to take them aboard.

“Katollis?!” Keith yelled out. 

“We’re clear to go,” Katollis called back. 

They ran out into the open and up the ramp into Red.He felt her eager growl that he echoed back to her in his mind.

“All on board?” Keith asked.

“We’re all here,” Katollis said.

“Erriss,” Keith called out.“I’m coming to your location, be ready for extraction.” 

Red leapt up and took off.Bravo was originally planned to have been picked up by a transport.The only reason Keith was taking even a moment to get them was because he knew he would need the backup when he got Lance out.Lance had finished his sentry tutorial and Keith missed his voice in his ear. 

“Where’s Blue?” Keith called out.

“She’s covering transports for evac,” Hunk said.

“Shiro?” He wanted Shiro at his side when he went for Lance.

“I need to handle the evacuation,” Shiro said.“I need you to cover the extraction Keith.”

“Bravo is at the evacuation site, but you’re coming in hot,” Erriss came in.

So Keith went in firing.

“Katollis, get ready to cover Bravo’s ingress,” Keith said, pulling up as close as he could to Bravo’s position while positioning himself between them and the sentries on the other side of the evacuation site.He didn’t get out of the pilot’s seat to see Bravo aboard.

“We have everyone accounted for,” Katollis said. 

“Taking off,” Keith said.He ignored the sentries still firing at them.

“What’s our mission,” Erriss asked.

“Lance is- Halo’s still at their objective,” Keith said.“They’re hemmed in.We’re getting them out.” 

Keith ignored the battles around him as he flew, punching through towards the remote site where the Galra had set up their secret laboratory.

“Coran,” Keith said.“Do we have eyes on Halo’s objective?”

“I’m sending you the information now,” it was someone else, some part of the bridge crew.

“Erriss, Katollis, I need you to have a battle plan when we get there in… half a dobosh.”

“Understood,” Katollis said, though Keith knew that wasn’t any time at all. 

Keith tried to keep himself away from the fear that he would fail, that Lance would be dead, that Lance would be in Galran hands and out of their reach.He’d already failed Lance in this lifetime and it didn’t matter if he couldn’t even remember it.

Erriss and Katollis approached him in the cockpit.

“What’s the plan?” Keith asked.

“We’ve been in contact with Lance.How far down can you punch through bedrock directly next to the facility without causing the facility to collapse?

“As far as you need,” Keith said.Red wanted to tear things up as much as Keith did, but- “I can keep it precise,” 

* * *

Lance’s team had walked right past their initial objective; their _only_ objective at that point was getting out.Rather than stealing any data, they’d just tossed in a charge and gone on their way. Heading downwards through the facility felt like walking into a trap.Partly because the facility was designed to allow infiltrators to be pinned down.Most of the sentries seemed to have headed to the top levels, making sure that all of their potential exits were blocked off.If anyone competent was giving them orders, they’d amass a strong enough force to sweep downwards.His team wouldn’t stand a chance of fighting their way out towards any exits.So they weren’t doing that.They were going down to give rescue enough time to get to them.

“We’re taking the door on the right here,” Mallin said.He was responsible for monitoring their progression to their new exit.Lance only half heard him; besides comms, his helmet was filtering for the sound of sentry footsteps, keeping everything else low.Even then it was hard to hear over the pounding of his heart.He kept himself from eyeing the door, anxiety threatening to overcome him.He would have to trust his team to handle whatever was on the other side.

“Taran, take entry,” Lance said.“Tanith, post with me.”

His shield out front, and Tanith right besides him doing the same, Lance kept his back to the rest of his team and the door as Taran handled the lock.He could hear the steps.Five sentries turned the corner in the hall ahead of them.Shots started streaming down the hall, impacting their shields and trying to get around them.He focused on keeping himself and Tanith positioned so the team behind them were covered as they made their entry.

“Go, go, go,” Lance said, he needed his team through the door, not getting into a protracted firefight.

The door behind him opened and his team started going through, though it sounded like there were sentries through there as well.The sentries ahead of Lance fanned out, the corridor forcing them to keep a distance from one another so that they could effectively attempt to dodge what shots Lance could get out around his shield.The corridor was also the only thing keeping them from routing them.

A tap on his shoulder let him know that he and Tanith were the last ones and the two of them backed up keeping their shields up as they went through. 

“Lock the door and plant a charge,” Lance told Tanith; they were running low on those. Spinning around he found himself in the middle of a semicircle of shields fanning out from the entrance.The door behind them would hold for a few moments, so he had a few moments to take out the sentries who were shooting from covered positions throughout the rather large bay they had entered.Ten sentries.Lance looked up; they needed the high ground. 

“Everyone mark your sector,” Lance said.“Keep firing and thrusters up to the crossbeams on my mark.”

He gave them only just a moment to eye the targets in their sector and a spot up above. 

“Go!” Lance said.

Like the rest of his team, he kept firing as he shot up, stopping only a moment to reposition himself and acquire his first target.A few moments later the room was quiet, the only sound the pounding of blasters against the door.

“Hold,” Lance said.They waited until the doors blasted inwards.He waited just a moment more and, “Tanith now!”

Tanith activated the charge that had been planted at the door and that took care of the first three sentries that came through, about a dozen shots from up in the rafters took out the last two that followed. 

“Quiet,” Lance ordered, listening.Lance ordered four to cover the only door into the bay while the rest of them dropped back down.

“Mallin,” Lance said.

Mallin pointed to a hatch in the far corner.“We’re taking that down.Thirty-three feet down to a tunnel below.The tunnel dead ends at the ladder below, so nothing should be behind you when you get to the bottom.”

Lance nodded.There wasn’t a lock on the hatch and with his team positioned, he swung it up and open revealing the ladder downwards.

“Thrusters only, keep your shields up and make way when you get to the bottom,” Lance said.They wouldn’t be using the ladder.No telling what was waiting for them below.He was just going to have to deal with that.

His own shield up, Lance jumped forward feet first and his limbs tucked in, but with his forearm angled so he could keep his shield up. He let his thrusters slow his fall just enough that he wouldn’t break anything at the bottom, but not so much that he’d be an easy target for anything below.He landed and moved out.He knew his team was behind him.

An alert flashed on his HUD.Radiation.It wasn’t unexpected, but he found another reason to be anxious.It wasn’t immediately dangerous, and his suit blocked a lot of it, but he’d definitely be getting checked out when he got back.Because he was going to make it back.He had his team behind him and he had Keith coming for him.

“Do we know what they’re doing down here?” Tarran asked.

“Trying to enrich energy crystals with some radioactive element,” Lance said.“The Princess says they’re chasing after something that’s not going to work, so we never made it a part of the objective.Didn’t want to blow it up either, with the civilian population up there… They might think it’s important enough for them to keep sentries down here though.”He should have thought about that earlier.

“Hey, Keith,” Lance said.“We might have more down here than we thought.”

“Just hold on,” Keith said.“We’re almost there.Find a spot to hunker down.”

It made sense. 

“Any defensible positions?” Lance asked Tarran.

“About thirty meters ahead,” Tarran said.

“Let’s go,” Lance said.

It was some sort of storage alcove.Large enough to fit them all, the corridor narrow enough that sentries would have a hard time getting a good angle on them.Lance darted further down the hall and planted his last charge next to a light panel.

“Status report?” Lance asked, when he got back to the alcove.

Minor injuries, damaged armor plating, and down to one charge, already emplaced, and one plasma grenade.Mallin was out of water, but they took care of that quickly.Of course, then he heard the telltale sound of sentries coming from ahead.

“Company ahead of us,” Lance said.

Shields posted up to give them just the barest of room to shoot through.The ground began to tremble.

“We’re taking fire,” Lance told Keith.“But we’ve got a defensible position.”

“I’m coming for you,” Keith said.

* * *

He had to ignore the Galra on the surface.Red would take care of them when Keith went down.Red wanted to attack too, but they burned through the bedrock instead; vaporized it.Lance was taking fire.Lance was cut off from them, and Keith wasn’t going to let anything happen to him; couldn’t let anything happen to him.The Galra couldn’t have him, and Keith would destroy everything to make sure of it.

He got out of the pilot’s chair and headed down.

“What’s our casualty situation?” Keith asked Erriss.

“We’ve got ten not mission capable, and we’re leaving four to care for them,” Erriss said. 

Keith nodded.They’d have to make do with what they had.

“Prepare to drop,” Keith said.“Our entry’s going to be molten rock, so we’re going through quick.Stay off the sides.”

“If only we had halo,” someone said.They could all handle the jump, though.

Keith had Red open the hatch.

“Two by two,” Keith said.“Go, go, go.”

Keith dropped with Erriss.Red was hovering right over the entry they’d made and Keith only had to make small corrections for the slight slant.He couldn’t feel the heat, but the walls of the tunnel were glowing red.He did feel the blaster bolt that hit him in the gut when he landed.It felt like a blow from a heavyweight, but he charged forward, turning his body, remembering Lance’s warning to not let the same section of his under suit get hit with multiple successive blasts.His first step turned into a spin, crouching down to spring back up, his sword cleaving through the nearest sentry.He wanted to just force his way through, but he engaged and waited as more and more of the Strike Team followed him down.

He had a vague awareness of Red in the back of his mind.She would cover the entrance, and destroy anything that tried to follow them through. 

“That’s everyone,” Erriss said.The sentries were down, and they were all assembled.

“Get in formation,” Keith said.He had to do this like Lance would do it.He couldn’t push on alone.It felt so slow.Antin and Ravonin, who had been by his side throughout the day, were still there, Ravonin keeping on their map of the facility and guiding them to Lance’s location.Every time they came across sentries, he felt rage, and he cut through them, because they were keeping him from his other half.

“Lance,” Keith said.“We’re coming up on your location.”

“There’s a lot of them,” was all Lance said, and there were.They turned the corner and at the far end was a swarm of sentries, trying to push through.This wasn’t a job for Keith, though.He pulled them back. 

“Post here and take them out,” Keith said.With Halo around the corner, and Alpha and Bravo on this side, the sentries wouldn’t have anywhere to take cover, and there were so many of them, they had themselves a bunch of fish in a barrel.It would have been satisfying to have Hunk’s bayard just then though.

When the firing let up, Lance came in over the comm, “Keith,” was all he said, and Keith was done going slow, he rushed forward. “I’m coming around the corner,” he said.

He shield checked the far wall as he rounded the corner too fast, and he could see the shields posted up a dozen meters down the hall.Lance appeared and Keith ran forward, looking him up and down for injuries.Finding none, he wrapped his arms around Lance.

“You came for me,” Lance said.

“Always.”

“I know.”

They were both heady with the thrill of the battle, but they both paused just then to take each other in.He couldn’t tell just by looking at him how he was doing, but he knew he couldn’t be alright.Keith let Lance cling to him just a moment more.

“Is your team ready to move out?”

“We’re good to go,” Lance said.

So they moved out.

“Blue’s here,” Lance said, when they got to the exit.

Keith wasn’t sure what he felt just then, but he knew he wanted Lance to stay with him.

“I’ll take Bravo,” Keith said.

Lance nodded.

Keith took Bravo and they blasted up the tunnel Red had made.Getting into the cockpit, Keith quickly moved aside so Blue could move in to pick up Lance.

“Bravo team is all onboard,” Keith reported.

“Alpha team is all onboard,” Lance returned.

“Glad to hear it,” Shiro said.“I need you both back here covering evacuations.”

Keith thought Lance should be back in the castle, but he didn’t say anything.Neither Shiro nor Lance would agree.

* * *

It was hours before they were able to leave the planet.They had ground teams pinned down away from landing zones all over.It was hours before everybody was accounted for, or at least, every body.It ended with another battle over the planet, as a Galran fleet dropped out of FTL as they were covering the last of the evacuating troops.They didn’t stay to decimate it; they had casualties who needed to see the Ocaampans and too many ships were already damaged.Voltron covered the exit through the wormhole.Shiro was beyond weary when they landed back in the castle, for all that he had never left his lion.He wasn’t done though.

Shiro exited Black and looked to his right.The Strike Team was making their way out of the Red and Blue Lions.He spotted Lance rushing out of the bay, and he saw Keith making to follow after him.Shiro used his thrusters to cross the distance. 

“Keith,” he said.“Stop.”

Keith whirled on him, a defiant look on his face.

“I need to be with him,” Keith said. 

“I’ll handle Lance,” Shiro said.“I need you to make sure the Strike Team is taken care of.”

“I know what he needs,” Keith said.

Shiro knew too, he knew where Lance had been, where he was.He also knew where he needed Lance to be.

“This is my wheelhouse,” Shiro said.“I need you to take care of yours.”

Keith was upset, but he turned and headed towards where the wounded were being assembled.

Shiro left in the direction Lance had gone, doubting he would have made it far.He asked the computer for Lance’s location and found him a few corridors over in a supply closet, his back against the wall, his knees drawn up to his chest.He was hyperventilating.He looked up at Shiro with a dead eyed stare before looking back down at his feet.He was clearly trying to stop, but Shiro knew how long that could take when all you had was yourself. 

He kneeled down in front of Lance and slowly and gently took hold of his hands. 

“It’s alright Lance,” Shiro said, keeping the cadence of his voice low and steady, something for Lance to grasp onto and slow his racing mind, something to pattern his breathing off of.“You’re onboard the castle with us.Pidge is onboard with us, Hunk is safe, Keith is safe, and so are you.”

Lance’s hands were shaking.

“It’s going to get better, you’re going to feel better soon, and I’m not leaving you until you are, you’re not alone here, we’re here for you.”

Lance nodded, and tried to match his cadence, his breath stuttering as he brought it back under control.

“We destroyed them,” Lance gasped out after a while.

“I know,” Shiro said, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder, maybe not as meaningful through the armor.“We’ll adapt; we’re already adapting.You’re not facing this alone this time Lance.”

“How many dead?” Lance asked.

“I don’t have a count yet,” Shiro said, letting his hand fall and repositioning himself so he was sitting next to Lance.“It’s bad, but you saved a lot of people down there.”

“I trained those sentries,” Lance said, venomously.

“You did everything right,” Shiro said.“It was unavoidable.”

“Pretty sure you didn’t think that yesterday,” Lance said.

“You gave us the best outcome we could have hoped for that day,” Shiro said.“I still wish you’d been a bit more selfish.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Lance said.

“I do,” Shiro said.

“You do?” Lance asked.

“I have faith in us,” Shiro said.“I have faith in you.We’re going to adapt and we’re going to make sure the Galra know there’s nothing they can do to their sentries that’s going to keep us from beating them back.”

“I’m supposed to be the optimistic one,” Lance said.

“You’re allowed to need some time to process this,” Shiro said.

“But you need me to be over it now,” Lance said.

Shiro sighed.

“If you need time, if you need to go talk to your therapist, you’ve got it.I’m not going to ask you to set that aside,” Shiro said.

“But..”

“But we need a plan, and you know how to fight these things,” Shiro said.

Lance closed his eyes.

“Wormhole’s open,” Shiro said.“You can talk to your therapist right now.”

Lance shook his head.“I need… I need to do this.I need to do something.”

Shiro nodded, he’d already known.

“Still,” Shiro said.“We’re going to take a minute.”

Lance nodded.“I’m not going to inspire confidence looking like this,” he said.

“We’re taking a moment for you, not for them,” Shiro said.

Lance put his hands over his face and Shiro let him focus on his breathing for a bit.

“What’s the plan?” Lance asked.

“Assemble with the generals and the training command,” Shiro said, making sure now to use his command voice, something for Lance to draw certainty from.“We’re going to ask you to squeeze out every bit of information you have about them, and everything you figured out for fighting them.We’ll work together to develop strategies.”

“The senior trainers should be there too, they know what’s realistic for the troops,” Lance said. 

“We’ll get who we can,” Shiro nodded.Many of them were planet side.“Are you ready?”

Lance nodded.“I’m ready,” he said, standing up.“And Shiro?” He waited until Shiro had stood up and was looking him in the eyes.“Thank you for trusting me with this, when I’m like…”

“When you’re the right person for the job,” Shiro said.

* * *

Hettie wasn’t surprised that her broad access didn’t get her into the long series of strategy meetings that followed the debacle that had happened on Aurelius Six.She got a promise of a debrief from Shiro as he all but guided Lance into the council room.Walking off in search of something to film, she passed a furious looking Keith heading for the meeting.She’d learned there were soldiers whose faces you didn’t shove cameras into right after a battle.Keith had the look of one. 

Hettie went looking for Pidge, the paladin who, in her limited experience, seemed most open to talking to her.There was also that thing that Lance had done, right when everything had gone from ordered chaos to a frenetic extraction.She’d been listening to their comms, and whatever happened down on the planet had happened before, and it had involved Lance and Pidge.Of course, it had probably involved all of the paladins, so with Pidge being in the intelligence wing, where she wasn’t allowed, Hettie found Hunk in an office near the main engineering bay instead.

“Are you busy?” Hettie asked. 

Hunk looked up at her.He looked stressed.“I’m just reviewing maintenance and repair reports,” he said.

“Are you responsible for the fleet?” Hettie asked.

He shook his head.“I work maintenance on the castle, and the Nang’ok are mostly responsible for fleet repairs.I’ve been looking to see if there’s been a change in how the Galra have been targeting our ships, though, if they’ve been adapting as they learn more about the fleet.”

“Have they?” Hettie asked.

“Changes in damage patterns are indistinguishable from random variation,” Hunk said.“At least so far.”He put down his pad and looked at her expectantly.

“What brought you out here?” Hettie asked.

“A giant robot Lion,” Hunk said.“Also circumstance, or fate if you listen to Allura.”

“What’s _keeping_ you out here?”

“A failure to listen to my self-preservation instincts,” Hunk said.“I wouldn’t have joined the Garrison if I hadn’t learned to ignore it, though.”

“Your desire to go to space was stronger than your fear of the danger?”

“Oh, I never wanted to go to space,” Hunk said.“I would have always been fine staying on Earth.I joined for the tech.”

“And now you have all the tech you could have dreamed of,” Hettie said.

“Sure,” Hunk said, but Hettie knew that wasn’t the answer.

“Do you really think Voltron wouldn’t be able to form without you?” Hettie asked.

“We did tests,” Hunk said.“Grabbed different people from the fleet and had them sit in the cockpit.Not the best thing for my bond with Yellow, and he didn’t exactly take to any of them.”

“Shiro said you all connect with your lion differently,” Hettie said.

“Telepathically,” Hunk said, shaking his head.“Yeah, still haven’t figured that one out.”

“So is asking what connects you to your lion a personal question?” Hettie asked.

“I mean, by definition, sure,” Hunk said.“They’re tied into innate parts of our personalities.Lance has opened up a lot about his connection lately, though he kept it a secret for a while after he figured it out.Keith and Shiro never go into specifics, and Pidge won’t acknowledge it until she can quantify it.Mine’s protection though.”

“Your desire to protect people?” Hettie asked.

Hunk nodded.

“Did you feel as though that was a key part of your personality before you connected with the Yellow Lion?” Hettie asked.

“Of course not,” Hunk said.“Who needed protecting back on Earth?We had global peace, we ended hunger, healthcare for all.There was nothing for me to fight for.”

He had never read any of Hettie’s articles, then.Most large news organizations liked to go along with the idea that global peace had been achieved, and that was that.

“So where did it start with you?” Hettie asked.

Hunk shrugged.“One day, I saw that the Galra had turned a heavily populated planet into a molten lifeless rock, and I wondered if that could ever happen to Earth.The next day I saw what had become of the survivors, a few star systems over, and then the Galra almost killed Lance and destroyed the ship’s energy crystal.I went to find another one so Lance could get healed and I found an entire people enslaved and mining energy crystals on a planet sized sentient organism that the Galra were slowly killing.They wanted freedom, they wanted to see their sun, they wanted to save the Balmera that had given them life.I wanted to free them.So we did.I wanted to protect them too, but they couldn’t let us fight without them, and I watched them get cut down as they struggled for the life that only their elders could still remember. 

“I know there are countless other peoples out there who need us, and yeah, I’d happily do that by working on projects for the alliance in an office back on the Nang’ok home world, but there’s no Voltron without me, and there’s no alliance without Voltron.”

“Tell me about the formation of the Alliance,” Hettie said.

“That’s really an Allura or a Shiro question,” Hunk said.

“I’m sure I’ll ask them,” Hettie said.“But I’d like your perspective.”

Hunk shrugged.“I don’t know what to tell you.The Antedians had been preparing for war with the Galra for generations when we found them.They weren’t on the front lines, but they’d branched far enough out from their system to discover the empire and they figured they’d eventually be fighting for their home.We didn’t exactly have to sell them on starting the alliance with us.I guess we gave them hope.Gave them the opportunity to be proactive rather than reactionary.They want to keep their people free, and they know that means working together and having each other’s backs.That’s what the alliance is.”

“Did they introduce you to any of the other alliance members?” Hettie asked.

“The Plynthions, actually,” Hunk said.“That was a bit more difficult, their planet wasn’t exactly united, and fighting the Galra had never really been much of an option with their level of tech.They knew about the danger, they just didn’t think fighting was even an option.”

“So you gave them tech, and gave them the option?” Hettie said.

“Sure,” Hunk said.“That, and the ability to hope for a chance to keep their home.”

“Besides holding skirmishes in the skies over their planets, have you ever interacted with anyone who lives in Galran territory?”

“A few traders, sure,” Hunk said.“The Galra still engage in trade, and some of the worlds they control have trading privileges.Besides that, though, we’ve met plenty of people who were prisoners onboard Galran ships.”

“Is it all for their blood sport?” Hettie asked.

“Pretty much, except the ones just being transported to work colonies,” Hunk said.“I’m surprised you’ve heard about that already.”

“Someone brought up broadcast ships during the battle,” Hettie said.“Shiro escaped from a Galran ship, a year after he was captured.”

“That’s a Shiro question,” Hunk said.

It wasn’t surprising that they looked out for one another.

“Have any of them joined the alliance?” Hettie asked.

“A few; we try to get people back to their homes if that’s still an option. The Plynthions have a small refugee settlement set up and there’s been a bit of recruitment from there.We’re working on a larger scale refugee option, but recruitment isn’t really my thing.I don’t suppose you have any engineering questions, because I’m your guy.”

“Can you tell me about the sentries?” Hettie asked.

“Mechanically, they’re pretty basic, designed to be mass produced, and I mean _mass_ produced.Quantity over quality, you know? Coding though, that’s a Pidge question, but we’re pretty sure they ripped it from someone else.We haven’t come across anything like it in any of their other tech.”

“So what happened today?” Hettie asked.

Hunk looked at her for a bit and shrugged.“You’re going to have access to the incident reports anyway.”He sighed.“When we met the Ocaampans, they’d let the Galra get a foothold on a small bit of their world.They could prevent them from advancing, but they were unwilling to use violence to get them off.All of their tech is supposed to be self-destroying to avoid having it fall into the wrong hands, but that didn’t work in one of their facilities.There’s a lot more to it, but they got their hands on a super advanced AI.We got the Galra off the planet for them, but the Galra made off with the AI, and some other really dangerous stuff so we went to go get it back.Essentially, we’re pretty sure they don’t know how to program their sentries past basic commands, but they set this AI to doing it for them.To learn as it fought us.We got the Ocaampan tech back, Lance did, but it was pretty brutal.We destroyed everything else.Looks like we missed something.”

“How long ago was this?” Hettie asked.

“A couple months,” Hunk said.

“And Pidge was involved,” Hettie said.

Hunk nodded.“Reserve judgement until you’ve read the reports,” he said. 

“What’s your take?”

He shrugged. “It was unavoidable,” he said.“It was supposed to be me.I was supposed to go in with Lance originally, but changes had to be made at the last minute.No one wanted Pidge to go in there, but we didn’t have much of a choice.Too much was at stake.”

Wasn’t there always.

“The good news is that they don’t have the AI anymore, so the sentries can’t learn anymore, but yeah, things just got more difficult.”

“If all of the sentries get this upgrade, does it change your assessment of the war?” Hettie asked.

Hunk shrugged.“It doesn’t change what needs to be done,” he said.

“So how bad was it?” Hettie asked.

“Bad enough that I’d appreciate it if you didn’t throw it in Lance’s face,” he said.“Honestly, I know you’re here to interview us all and stuff, but could you give him some space for a bit?”

“Sure,” Hettie readily agreed.“Let’s change tracks then.What do you think about the Earth joining in this war?”

Hunk started fidgeting. “Oh,” he said.“I guess it’s like the Balmerans.”

“You think humans would just get cut down?”

“I mean, I want to protect Earth, I don’t want them to have to fight, but I know they have a right to fight for themselves, like the Balmerans fought for themselves.That was my first combat outside of Yellow.We were pinned down; I thought it was over, and then the Balmerans rushed in.”

“Are you worried that joining the alliance would make Earth a target?” Hettie asked.

“Of course,” Hunk said.“But it already is; the whole galaxy is their target, and unopposed, they’ll get there soon enough.”

“And how stretched out can the fleet get before you can’t respond to an attack on Earth?”

“That’s what wormholes are for,” Hunk said.“Look, I don’t want Earth in the war, at all, but this war has never been about what anyone wants.”

“Wars are always about what some people want,” Hettie said.

“Sure,” Hunk said.“The Galra want to control the galaxy and all its resources.Emperor Zarkon’s been pushing for that for literally thousands of years.”

“Have you ever talked to anyone who’s Galran?” Hettie asked.

“Not directly,” Hunk said.“Usually it’s Shiro who goes, ‘Surrender!’ and then the Galra respond, ‘Victory or Death!’ and then it’s death.”

“Does that tie into a Galran belief about an afterlife?” Hettie asked.

That seemed to draw Hunk up short.“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever considered that.I have no idea.The Alteans are the only one’s who would know, but the Galran culture definitely changed while they were in stasis for thousands of years.”

“What about Galran prisoners?” Hettie asked.

“There’s a few on the Plynthion homeworld,” Hunk said.“They rarely surrender.I’m sure someone’s talking to them, if you’re interested in getting any insight there.”

If she could get a sit-down with an actual Galran soldier, that would be best, though it treaded a very fine line with the Geneva convention.

“So you have refugees from broadcast ships,” Hettie said.“What about people fleeing Galran occupation?”

“They’re out there,” Hunk said.“The alliance is looking into long term resettlement options, particularly when we start liberating labor colonies.The only thing stopping us right now is just that we don’t have anywhere for millions of refugees.We’ve been bandying about some ideas for how to fast track it, but food is one of the biggest issues.Transporting it, or quickly developing an infrastructure on any resettlement site.Of course, then there are occupied worlds with billions of people on them.One of the ways the Galra control people is to destroy food production on planets, then they have entire work colonies on planets dedicated to food production.Whole populations become dependent on Galran supply lines.”

“Which you’re attacking,” Hettie pointed out.

“We’re being careful,” Hunk said.“But that’s admittedly one of the reasons we need Earth.We just need a ton of ships right now, and I mean, right now, if we’re going to do much more than just annoy the empire anytime soon.”

“So what do you think victory looks like in the long run?” Hettie asked.

“No idea,” Hunk said.“That’s a question for the council, I’m just an engineer.”

“And a paladin of Voltron,” Hettie said.

“That too, for some reason,” Hunk sighed.“Got any engineering questions?”

* * *

Keith stayed next to Lance.Now that he’d given about as much insight as he could, and the discussion had turned more towards logistics, Lance was quietly looking worse and worse.Keith gently nudged him with his elbow, and let his fingers brush Lance’s hand.Lance grasped it firmly.

“Alright,” Shiro said. “Let’s recap. Training Command, I need a broad retraining schedule by end of second shift tomorrow.Armorers, we’ll need finalized decisions on added shielding versus mobility before we determine a final tactical operating procedure, so I want tests done in five quintants.Keith, the Strike Team’s mission right now is to work through tactics.Don’t get married to anything until you’ve been developing different strategies for a few days at least.Lance, you’ll be Keith’s advisor on that.” 

“We’ve got it,” Keith said.He wasn’t sure if Lance had, but he’d tell him later.

“We should discuss the missions in the docket next,” Admiral Tanith said.

“Agreed,” Allura said.“We may make changes based on the data we collected from the Imperial Cruiser, but I think we’ll need to drop any missions that involve ground forces for the time being.”

“What about broadcast ships?” some Admiral asked.

“I think Lance and I should go check in with our team,” Keith said over the response.“We took casualties today.”

Shiro gave him a nod.“You’re dismissed.Let them know, all ground teams are on R&R for the rest of today and tomorrow.Start brainstorming with your team leads tomorrow though.And Lance, check your tablet at your earliest.”

“Got it,” Keith said.He pulled Lance up next to him and guided him out of the room.

What would Lance say, if their situations were reversed?He didn’t know.

“What do you need?” Keith asked.

“We should do what Shiro said.” Lance sounded small.“Together.”

“Always together,” Keith assured him.He put an arm around Lance’s shoulders and they went off to check in with the Strike Team.

There were five members of the strike team in healing pods.Two had been medevaced to the Ocaampans, technically dead but hopefully not for long.No way to know until they got word back.There were also numerous injuries that just required bandages and some cellular accelerants, so they did the rounds with those who had been discharged.

“What’s next?” Lavulin, the youngest of the Antedians on the team, asked.“How are we letting the Galra know this isn’t stopping us?”

“The fleet’s on stand down,” Lance said.“Today and tomorrow.After that, we’re going to hit them hard, over and over again, but ground forces are going to be recalibrating.We’re not sending anyone out until we know we’ve got them beat.The Strike Team is going to be leading the way, like always, and we’ll make sure the rest of the troops are up for this.Take some time, call home, sleep in, work out, do whatever you need to do to be fresh because we’ve got work to do.Keith’s going to be working with Katollis, Erriss, and me tomorrow to figure out a way forward and then we’re going to have you all pick it all apart until we’re confident we can make the Galra wish they’d never even seen that AI.”

They all clearly liked having a plan going forward, and though Keith had been worried about it, no one seemed to think any public shaming was needed.Maybe they could see that Lance wasn’t taking pride in what had happened that day.Maybe they’d wait until after R&R when Lance had bounced back.The Antedians were confusing; he’d been one far too long ago.Lance made sure Erriss would let them know if there was any news from the Ocaampans, no one in any of the healing pods were expected to be out until the following day, so Keith asked what Lance wanted to do next.

“Get out of this armor?”

They walked to the armory in silence.Keith was rather useless, besides helping Lance out of his everything.

“Are you hungry?” Keith asked.There had been food at the meeting, but Lance hadn’t eaten anything.Food was normally something he went for when he was down.

Lance shook his head.“I need to see the gremlin and Hunk,” he said.So they went and saw Pidge, who was super busy, of course.They both took time to worry over one another, though.Lance had the audacity to ask her if she’d eaten anything since breakfast.

“I’m going to figure this out,” Pidge told Lance as they left.

“And then I get to blow something up,” Lance responded.

They found Hunk doing some maintenance.He managed to talk Lance into eating.They went to the kitchens and Hunk brought out some leftovers from the night before.He talked non-stop as he heated things up and had Keith help.Lance looked happy enough to listen.Hunk made sure they both ate plenty.

“Shiro wanted me to check something on my pad,” Lance said, getting up from his seat at the counter.

“Yeah,” Hunk said.“He asked me to message your therapist and let him know what happened today.Allura said she could open a wormhole if you needed a direct connection.”

“I’m pretty sure she opened a bajillion wormholes today,” Lance said.“Thanks though, I should get on that.Could you make sure the gremlin gets some dinner? I’m pretty sure she’s planning on working through the night, and I’m most likely going to get instructions not to stay up late to chase her down.”

“I’ve got you buddy,” Hunk said.“Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Yeah,” Lance said.

“Hey,” Hunk said.“Just a heads up, that reporter is already looking up the mission reports from last time.I didn’t want you to get broadsided if she asks you anything.”

“Oh,” Lance said.“Yeah, I figured it would come up eventually.”

“Are you worried about your family?” Hunk asked.

“I never really meant to keep anything from them,” Lance said.“I just didn’t want our one day with each other to be more tense than it had to be, you know?Didn’t take long for my tío to figure out I’ve got PTSD, but he gets it.I’ll talk to them before any documentary gets broadcast on Earth.Soon.I’ll talk to them soon.Just not right now.”

“Sure,” Hunk said.“Take care of yourself, alright?”

“That’s the plan,” Lance said. 

Keith went with Lance to his room.He wasn’t sure if he still needed Keith, but Keith at least needed to be near Lance.Lance didn’t seem to mind, at least. 

“How are you doing?” Keith asked.

“I feel like I’ve shoved everything into a closet and I’m leaning against it to hold it shut,” Lance said frankly.

He went straight for his pad when he got to his room.

“Need help with anything,” Keith asked when Lance put his pad down.

“Yeah actually,” Lance said.“Can you talk with me for a bit while I get some readings?”He pulled out the scanner the Ocaampans had given him and attached it to his temple.

“Talk about what?”

“I don’t know, tell me about yourself,” Lance told him.He settled on his bed and gestured for Keith to sit with him.

“Um…”

“How’d you get so good with a sword?” Lance asked.“No way you learned all that when you were at the Garrison.”

Lance usually looked him in the eyes, but though they were sitting opposite each other, he was looking at his hands.

“I’d learned the basics when I was a kid,” Keith said.“My dad thought I’d think it was cool.”

“Did you?” Lance asked.

“Well, yeah,” Keith said.On impulse he reached out and took one of Lance’s hands and started massaging it.“I used to tell myself I’d become a space pirate.I guess I was half right.”

“There’d better be a picture somewhere of tiny Keith dressed up as a pirate for Haloween,” Lance said.

Keith shrugged.“There probably is,” he said.“Probably with one of my relatives, if they kept my dad’s stuff.”

“So, did having the memories make things weird as a kid?” Lance asked.

“I guess?” Keith said.“Not as much as you’d think.Being Keith made things weird.”

“What do you mean?” Lance asked

“We’re a combination of our souls and our brains,” Keith said.“New brain every time.New childhood every time.Everything’s new, only the past stays the same.”

“So what, you make it sound like your soul is just memory storage,” Lance said.

“It’s not,” Keith said.“It’s more than that, but it’s still only a part of who you are.I just had trouble with a lot of stuff growing up.Brain didn’t always seem to work like everyone else’s.Still doesn’t.”Not for the first time, he wondered if only being half human was the reason.

“Yeah, well, your relatives lost out; you’re great,” Lance said.“So how did having those memories affect you when you were little?”

Keith shrugged.“Helped out in school.Things come with age though, and experience.I mostly remembered childhood stuff when I was a kid.I guess it didn’t feel great having all those reminders of the sorts of family I could have had, but once I figured out reincarnation, I guess it made me hopeful, that I didn’t just have one life to figure things out.Also made me realize there was so much more out in space.I figured I’d find somewhere I fit out here.I didn’t remember the Galra until we left Earth, though.”

“How often do we remember our past lives?” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged.“Maybe fifteen percent of the time?”

“Huh,” Lance said.“It would be cool if I remembered.We could compare.Maybe this isn’t the first time we’ve met since the last time we were Paladins.”

Keith didn’t know if there would ever be a right time to tell him, but just then definitely wasn’t.The scanner on Lance’s forehead beeped and Lance took it off, sending the data to his therapist. 

“What’s next?” Keith asked.

“I’m supposed to have a ‘cathartic release’ and then go relax,” Lance said.

“A cathartic release?” Keith asked.Was he just supposed to start crying?

Lance looked like he was perusing a list.Something on there made him blush.

“Wanna run obstacle courses until we collapse?” Lance asked.

Keith wanted to do whatever Lance thought would make him feel better, so they went to the training deck.It was a race, of course, each iteration.Lance wanted exhaustion, so Keith pushed him, challenged him, and didn’t hesitate to win.Lance did eventually collapse, so Keith collapsed next to him and just listened to Lance breathe next to him.

“Thanks for coming for me,” Lance said.

“Always,” Keith said.“This life and all the rest.”

“I’d like that,” Lance said.

Keith’s hand found Lance’s and he held it.

“It’s just, I keep feeling like I cheated death back then.When I saw those sentries, I thought it had finally caught up with me.”

“You didn’t cheat death, you beat it,” Keith said. 

“Paladin Keith,” a voice interrupted him over his comm, it was Erriss.

“What’s happening?” Keith asked.

“We received word from the fleet coordinator concerning our two who were sent to the Ocaampans.Tebin was revived and is expected back with the fleet tomorrow morning.Fuuthar suffered brain death and will be returned to her home.”

“I understand,” Keith said.He knew what to say, it had barely changed in the lifetimes since he had been an Antedian.“A part of me has died with her, and a part of me will grow when we gather to honor her, and learn from her life.”‘Honor,’ that was the only thing that had changed, it used to be ‘remember,’ back before they had become a warrior society.Lance gasped besides him, knowing what it meant.

Erriss responded in kind and that was that.Antedians were solitary in the face of death, they would mourn together only after they had time to themselves.Keith rolled over to face Lance, who had silent tears rolling down his face.Keith pulled Lance towards him and held on tight as Lance began to shake and sob. 

Eventually Lance just shut down, and Keith didn’t know what to do, because Keith wasn’t built for that in this lifetime.He wasn’t what his soulmate needed him to be in this lifetime, so he thought back, searching through their past for anything that would help.He found something he thought would let Lance collect himself.First though, they were disgusting, so Keith got him through a shower and got him up to the top deck.None of the alliance members were from species that swam recreationally, Allura and Coran rarely had time for leisure, so Lance and Keith usually had the pool to themselves. 

Arriving at the top deck, Keith adjusted the settings on the pool for temperature and salinity.Lance could float on his back, despite his low BMI, but Keith needed a bit of assistance and an ultra high salt content would do that.The temperature was raised to body temperature.The lighting was changed to a low soft orange glow, and Keith didn’t have any trouble getting Lance into the water.They just floated there.Though this idea had come from a very good memory, Keith in this lifetime was about incapable of just staying in place and doing nothing.It felt like an hour, but was probably much less, before Keith said anything, partly to break up the antsy feeling and also just to remind Lance that he wasn’t alone.

“There’s one memory,” Keith said.“So many lifetimes ago, but I think it was on Earth, or it could have been Earth.People looked human and I think it was precolonial times in South America, but I’ve never been able to place the culture in the history books.Maybe it was lost to time, or it was just on another planet.We had these little boats, and there was a giant lake, and we’d use them for agriculture, there were like, these wooden platforms on the lake that were filled with dirt and stuff grew on them and we’d use the boats to get to everything.We were little.Like tiny, and we snuck out one night, because we’d heard that the stars looked different away from the fires around the city and the canopy of the forest around us.So we got in this boat, in the middle of the night, without our parents, and we just paddled out as far away as we could get and then we laid down in the boat next to each other and watched the stars all night.We saw a shooting star and you made up a story, about a warrior in the heavens hurling a spear at a great boar.”

“I made up a story?” Lance croaked.

“You’re always a story teller,” Keith said.

“Always?” Lance asked.

“Usually,” Keith said.“Different brains, but yeah, making grand adventures out of a trip to the corner store, or writing down stories that get passed down through the generations, or telling me about the time you drifted out to sea and met a fisherman.”

“But Keith, we always meet?” Lance asked.

“Always,” Keith said.

Lance doesn’t say anything for a while. Keith doesn’t know what’s going on in his head.

“So are we going to meet all these other Wanderers? Are we all drawn together somehow? Were there others born on Earth?”

Keith shook his head before remembering Lance couldn’t see that.“No,” he said.“Or at least we wouldn’t know.But we always find each other.”

“Why?” Lance asked.

“How this all started happened too long ago for me to remember,” Keith said, not the complete answer he could give. 

“So what, I have a body in the graveyard on Actic Five?” Lance asked.

Keith froze.“No,” he said.“You died on Rigel Seven.You were evacuating people; your ship was hit.”

Lance was silent for a bit.“Oh,” he said.They floated some more.“So I was a pilot?”

“We always are,” Keith said.“As long as pilot is an actual profession that exists.”

“I asked in one of the loops, if you knew about me before hand, you said I’d have to ask you again after it was all over.I guess I forgot.”

“The first time I remembered you was the first time I sat in the simulator at the Garrison,” Keith said.He’d had memories of Lance before that, just without the context.

“Did you remember me doing something awesome,” Lance asked.

“I remembered leaving you on Rigel Seven,” Keith said.“And then it was a flood of memories of you.”

“So when did you know it was me, like Lance me?” Lance asked.“When we became Paladins?”

“No,” Keith said, mulling it over, not knowing what Lance could handle knowing.“I knew it was you the first time we talked.”

“For real?” Lance asked.

“That’s how it works, when we remember,” Keith said.The first time they look each other in the eyes.

“But I didn’t remember,” Lance said.

“I could tell,” Keith said.“I could tell you didn’t remember me.”

“I guess that must have sucked,” Lance said.

“Yeah,” Keith said.“But it wasn’t your fault.”

“I definitely didn’t help,” Lance said.

“Things worked themselves out,” Keith said.They had worked themselves out better than Keith had any right to expect in this lifetime.He had Lance at his side and Lance liked him well enough.

“Yeah,” Lance said.“I’m glad we did.” He flipped over and started swimming laps.Keith was eager for some movement and joined him.They didn’t race.They hadn’t exactly done any recovery after the obstacle course.

“I’ve probably got instructions from my therapist,” Lance said, stopping at the side and holding himself up against the wall of the pool.

They rinsed off, got dressed, and left. 

“So what else was on that list of ‘cathartic releases?” Keith asked.

“Well, crying was on there,” Lance said.

“Is that what made you blush?” Keith asked.

“Sure,” Lance said.“Let’s go with that.What else, um, there was screaming, and breaking stuff.”

Keith wasn’t sure that Lance was telling the truth, but didn’t press it.Stuff with his therapist was private. 

“He’s probably going to tell me not to spend the night alone,” Lance said.

“I could stay with you,” Keith said.

“Really?” Lance asked.“I’ve sort of eaten up your afternoon.”

“I don’t mind,” Keith said.

“Thanks,” Lance said.

“Always,” Keith said

* * *

Shiro had promised to debrief Ms. Shirazi that evening, but he hadn’t expected her to have already dug so deeply into the matter.She just walked into his office and came out with, “Lance Sanchez was tortured as a prisoner of war for months.”

It wasn’t like Shiro had forgotten.“Yes,” Shiro said.“He was.”

“No soldier on Earth would be expected back on the battle field after that, but you had him out fighting battles a few days later.”

“The Galra don’t put off genocide just because we need some down time,” Shiro said, and he was glad to see her tense when he used that word.“Besides which, it wasn’t a few days for Lance, it was over a month in his personal timeline since he had ‘escaped’ from captivity.”

“Escaped by dying,” Ms. Shirazi said.“Over and over again.”

“Yes,” Shiro said. “I’m surprised you accepted time travel so readily.”

She looked him over for a moment.

“You have a young organization, trying to find a common ground between several alien races.A bomb that can destroy dozens of star systems, a solitary member of your mythologized Voltron passing through extreme trials to save everyone, it sure sounds like an attempt to create a common legend for your alliance to rally around.Whether it’s true or not, that boy has PTSD.”

“I can’t comment on anyone’s medical history,” Shiro said.“But whether you believe it or not, we encountered the same advanced sentries today from that mission, and I believe that was what I was supposed to brief you on this evening.”

Ms. Shirazi finally sat down.“How will this new enemy capability change how you conduct this war?”

Straight to the heart of it.“The same as before, it seems that sentry behavior is rather static.They’ve changed tactics, but we don’t believe they will be able to change them on the fly.Besides which, they were essentially trained to fight two Paladins alone with precognition.It doesn’t translate well.I won’t deny that they’ve gotten better and more effective, but we’re identifying and developing strategies to use against them, and we won’t be planning any ground forces actions until we’re confident our teams can effectively accomplish the mission.”

“You don’t think they can develop further upgrades?” Hettie asked.

“As of now, no,” Shiro said.“We don’t think they have the capability.Both the old and the new sentries, the code that operates them is more advanced than the Galra’s capabilities.You’ll want to talk to Pidge if you are looking for a more detailed explanation.”

“I read your first mission reports, on the Balmera,” Hettie said.“Pidge was able to remotely deactivate the sentries.”

“Yes and no,” Shiro said.“Keith and Lance patched her into the control center.The equipment there had control over the sentries.We haven’t yet managed to remotely access individual sentries and control them.”

“Has the alliance considered developing their own sentries, to replace ground forces?” Ms. Shirazi asked.

“Largely not my area of expertise,” Shiro said.“But as I understand it, autonomous AI is very difficult and very easy to go wrong.Most of the members of the alliance have outlawed it on their home worlds after disastrous potential extinction level events.”

“Essentially, the Galra have an endless supply of Sentries, so you need an endless supply of soldiers,” Ms. Shirazi said.

“We need to destroy their supply chain,” Shiro said.“But yes, we need more soldiers.Particularly on heavily occupied worlds, we can’t just bombard the Galra from space without heavy civilian casualties.That’s not an option for us.”

“You said you need to grow enough to force the Galra to sit down at the table with you,” Ms. Shirazi said.“What efforts have been made to establish diplomatic channels?”

“Subspace communiques and prisoners released with messages,” Shiro said.“Neither one has born fruit; they don’t respond to either.”

“What are you prepared to offer for an armistice?” Hettie asked.

“That’s still up for debate with the council,” Shiro said.“We would at least like to establish rules of engagement, but there’s no chance we’re going to be making peace any time soon.No one wants to cede territory or leave the Empire with the capabilities of preparing for a major offensive during a temporary peace.The Empire isn’t going to be defanged until we can make them choose just how much they want to lose, and the Alliance isn’t going to stop until the Empire is no longer a threat.Until it is no longer an empire.”

“You don’t see a mutually beneficial outcome from negotiations?”

“I think it’s beneficial to the Galra if we don’t destroy everything they have and leave what’s left of them on a planet with limited resources for developing interstellar technologies,” Shiro said.“There are a lot of options on the table for an endgame if the Galra never come to the table, and that’s one of them.”

“That could take hundreds of years of war,” Ms. Shirazi said.

“As things are now?Yes, it could,” Shiro agreed.“But the bigger the Alliance grows, the faster we will bring the enemy to heel.”

Ms. Shirazi looked him in the eye for a moment before continuing.

“I’m interested in interviewing prisoners who have been freed from the Galra,”Ms. Shirazi said.“I’m sure there are many who would be able to tell me their story, and I’m eager to document their experiences, but in particular, I’m looking to tell a human centered story.I’d like an opportunity to interview both you and Lance about your experiences.”

“I don’t think either of us had a typical experience,” Shiro said.“Lance was captured as a Paladin of Voltron, I became Commander Sendak and then Emperor Zarkon’s favored Champion in their arenas.The typical experience would be a slave at one of their work colonies.We can set you up with other’s who have been in the arenas, but your most typical experience is probably with the balmerans.They have a good cross section of those who remember a time before Galran rule and those who were born into it.”

“And yet, your own experiences, perhaps, largely forms the basis of your involvement in this war, and through you, the rest of humanity.”

“You think I’m motivated by revenge?” Shiro asked.

“I think it’s important to ask the question,” Ms. Shirazi said.

Shiro had never thought that he would invite a journalist onboard the castle and wouldn’t have to answer difficult questions.

“I won’t deny that I’m angry for what happened to me,” Shiro said.“Or that it hasn’t played a role in shaping me into who I am now.That’s why the council is so important.I’m not leading this fleet on my own.I can’t make a decision based on my own desires without it being countered by the interests and morals of the other leaders of the Alliance.Do I want revenge? Of course I do.Sendak is dead, he died on this ship; Zarkon will die in this war, but I’m not drawing Earth into this fight to help me destroy my demons.

“Earth is not safe while the Empire goes unchecked.What happened to me can happen to countless others.The stronger the Alliance becomes, the safer Earth becomes.The core of the Alliance is mutual defense.”

“So long as the Alliance holds,” Ms. Shirazi said.

“So long as the Alliance remains strong,” Shiro said.

“How has trade been impacted between the Alliance members?” Ms. Shirazi asked.

“Heavily,” Shiro said. “But that’s about as much as I can say without consulting an economist.We’re sort of going all over the place here.”

“I’m trying to cover some broad topics so I can work out more focused questioning later,” Ms. Shirazi said.

“So what’s next?” Shiro asked.

Ms. Shirazi consulted her notes.“Can I access enemy prisoners of war?”

“You’re welcome to interview them, but we can’t make them cooperate.”

“Let’s talk the Geneva Convention then,” Ms. Shirazi said.

* * *

That night, Keith took off his boots before they got into bed.Lance placed the pulse emitter on his temple and crawled in after him. Lance drifted off with one of Keith’s arms protectively wrapped around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I can't stop doing horrible things to Lance. Some good stuff is coming eventually though. I hope you're all doing alright out there.


	3. No Spill Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this chapter got a bit, uh, steamier than I was planning for this story, so I'm going to warn for a bit of mild sexual content at the end. Chapter title is from the Oingo Boingo song of the same name.

“Lance!” the twins exclaimed in unison.

“Hey,” Lance said.“I’ve missed you so much.We’re only about a thousand lightyears away from Earth right now and it’s after hours here so we’re good to talk as long as you want.”

“Are you alright?” Mamá asked.

Lance took a step back and twirled for the holo cameras.No injuries that couldn’t be healed.“I’m great,” Lance said.“We’ve been super busy, but things are going well.”

They had just gotten back into regular operations after so much retraining and reconceptualizing a lot of the equipment in their ground force’s kits.It wasn’t the same as before.They took more casualties, more fatalities, but it was better than it could be.They were still beating the Empire back.

“I drew a picture of you!” Rolando said, holding up said drawing.“It’s from the picture Papá took.”It was a drawing of Lance in his armor with his helmet tucked under one arm. 

“That’s so great!” Lance said.When had Rolando gotten good at drawing?Had he been drawing the last time Lance had been in Varadero? When he’d left Earth?“Hold it up to the camera some more, I’m going to capture it.”

“When can we go into space?” Camilla asked. 

Lance shot a look over at Marco who looked at Teresa who took a moment but shrugged. 

“When we get back to Earth we’re going to be in a lot of meetings, and a lot is going to depend on how everyone on Earth reacts to us, but I’m hoping I can take you up then.Just wait, the Earth looks super cool from orbit.”

“And we can be weightless?” Rolando asked.

“Of course!” Lance said.

“How long will you be this close?” Tía Elena asked.

“Just for tonight,” Lance said.“Another mission tomorrow morning and then we’re camped out somewhere else.”

So they made the most of it.Lance told stories about life onboard the ship.Everything else was ‘top secret.’ None of the adults wanted Lance making the war sound cool for the twins, so for just then the twins didn’t know of any war to worry about.Lance also demanded to hear about everything he was missing.A couple hours later and the twins had to say good night, so the grown up conversation began.

“So are we winning?” Luis asked.

“Well, we’re not loosing,” Lance said.“The Galra got a new trick up their sleeve but we’ve adjusted and we’re working on some of our own.”They were close to a test of the cloaking technology against Galran sensors.

“Veronica called last night,” Papá said.“It was hard not to just tell her.We did convince her to request some leave to fly home.”

“Good,” Lance said.“Good, hopefully we can have a face to face.” He missed her so much, and he’d worried about her going on a mission and spending it distracted with worries about him.“So, I guess I wanted to talk to you all about some things.I wanted to tell you when you were here, but, I just wanted that to be a happy day, or, as happy as it could be.”

“Are you hurt?” Mamá asked again.

“No,” Lance said.“I could get my arm blasted off and they’d just grow me a new one, not that that’s happened, but…I guess, though, that I have been hurt, by what’s happened in this war.I’ve been in horrible situations, and I have been hurt horribly, and I’ve survived, but I’m still hurting, you know, up here.” Lance tapped his head.“We don’t have any human psychologists up here, but, yeah, I have PTSD.The treatment’s really good though, and my friends all have my back.I’ve been-I’ve been relying on them.They’re all like family.A lot of the times, things are really good, and when they aren’t, I’ve got support.”The treatment was really good, but as his Ocaampan therapist had explained, Lance was just continually re-traumatizing himself every time he put boots on the ground.

“They hurt you,” Mamá said.

“Yeah,” Lance said.“It would take a long time to explain it, but if I told you I got stuck in a weird time loop, could we just go without explaining the mechanics of that?”

“Time travel?” Miguel asked.

“Pretty much,” Lance said.“Most of them were short, just hours, everything would reset when I-”

“When you died?” Miguel supplied.He’d read so much sci-fi, Lance probably fell into some sort of trope.That didn’t get the best reaction from everyone else.

“Yeah,” Lance said.“The same battle, over and over again, except when I got captured by the enemy.That lasted a long time until I went back to the beginning to start it all over again.I finished it though.I was hurt but I finished it.”

“You were captured?” Carla asked.“Did they-“

Lance cut her off. “It was bad, but I survived, and I did what I had to to come home.”

“But you’re not home,” Tía Elena said.

Lance huffed a laugh.“You got me there,” he said.He knew he was hurting them by telling them all of it, but they were his family, how could he keep it from them?“I will be though.” It was a promise they all knew he didn’t have much control over as long as he stayed in the war.“This is my calling though, and I’m not walking away from it.”

“Did they come for you? When you were captured?” Papá asked.

“Keith pulled me out,” Lance said.“And I couldn’t have ended it without Pidge.”

“How are they helping you?” Mamá asked.

“They’re looking out for when I’m not doing well, and they make sure I’m not alone,” Lance said.“Especially at night, sometimes I wake up and I feel like I’m back there, and I can ground myself if someone’s there with me.”

“When you come home we can make sure you’re never alone,” Tío Mateo said.It was the first thing he’d said since the twins had left. 

“I know,” Lance said.“I know this is a lot to take in but there’s something else I wanted to tell you.I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”

“What could be worse than knowing someone has hurt my son?” Mamá asked.

“Not worse,” Lance said.“Not bad at all really.Just, unusual.So you already know Pidge is transgender.”

There were a few head nods and it was obvious no one was expecting that turn in the conversation.

“Well the Ocaampans were able to help her, medically.They needed the right DNA to make things work though and I let them use a copy of my X chromosome, so I guess that makes it a family thing.”

There was a moment of stunned silence for a bit.

“Lance,” Tía Elena said.“DNA is… We’re all born with what god has to give us.”

“When the Rodriguez boy down the street was born missing an arm, no one said he shouldn’t get a prosthetic,” Lance said.“We all have our journeys, and we all need help sometimes, so I helped Pidge on hers.The next day she helped me on mine.I know this is a lot to process, but all I’m asking is that you think it over.I told her that day, before there was any gene sharing that I considered her family, and I still do.She’s important to me, my whole team is, and I hope you can accept that they’ll always be important to me, however they are.”

“The people who are important to you will always be important to us,” Mamá said.“Even if we don’t see eye to eye on everything.”

“Any other big things you want to throw at us?” Carla asked.

“Uuh,” Lance hesitated.“There is something.Something I’m still trying to wrap my head around.I don’t think I know how to talk about it yet.”How does a boy tell his mother that his eternal soul would never follow hers?

“Then you’ll tell us when you’re ready,” Mamá said.

“Or you can talk it out with us,” Tía Elena said.

“Whatever you need,” Tío Mateo said.

“I know,” Lance said.It hadn’t been an easy conversation, but he’d needed it, and he was happy to have his family behind him, however things would turn out.

* * *

Decontamination and quarantine was not a pleasant procedure.She’d been given assurances from her daughter that the onboard anti-microbial fields would have stopped her from picking up any alien bugs, but she wasn’t going to get anywhere with the command if she told them she’d had alien contact without going through the proper procedures.

“From the LZ to you vehicle, what surfaces did you touch?” One technician asked as another continued taking swab samples from just about everywhere.Colleen was absolutely certain that no one believed she’d just been dropped off by an alien ship, but she wasn’t some civilian off the street with a wild story, she was a senior engineer with a long history at the Garrison.

“I didn’t touch anything,” Colleen said.“I was careful.I fashioned a simple cloth mask before I left the craft.”That mask, and everything else she’d had on her, had been placed in a powerful UV light box.The clothes would go to be incinerated later. 

There were plenty of people at the Garrison who didn’t really believe that Earth would ever make contact with an alien species.Still though, no one was going to violate protocols that were meant to prevent a global plague.Except, Colleen supposed, she had when she failed to mention the other families.She was putting her faith in her daughter’s assurance that no alien biome could follow them to Earth.

“You’re ready for your second decontamination scrub,” the technician said. 

First had been various swabbings, then a thorough decontamination, followed by the second round of swabbing and a thousand questions before a secondary decontamination.

“What in the hell is going on here!” Commander Iverson burst in, sans hazmat suit, two MPs followed him in and posted at the door.

“Sir!” said one of the technicians.“You can’t be in here.”

“What are you doing, Holt?” Commander Iverson asked.“If you think some story about aliens is going to pressure us to find your daughter-”

“I found my daughter,” Colleen said.

That brought Commander Iverson up short.

“I found her and the other missing cadets, and someone else you lost track of the night my daughter went missing,” Colleen said.

Iverson stared at her for a moment and she could see the gears turning in his head, he could probably see the hatred in her eyes, knew that she knew everything.He turned to look at the decontamination box. 

“Everything she’s come in contact with or brought with her must be destroyed immediately.Send it to the incinerator.”

“Sir, there’s a protocol for determining that,” the technician said.

“I’m giving you an order,” Iverson said.

“You don’t outrank the protocol, Iverson,” Colleen said. 

“Petty Officer,” Iverson commanded, pointing at one of the MPs.“Remove those items to the incinerator.”

“Sir,” the MP said, hesitantly.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” Iverson said.

Colleen hopped off the exam table, ready to fight him over it, she couldn’t afford to lose what her daughter had given her.

“Sir, it hasn’t been in decontamination long enough,” the technician said.

“Stand down,” a new voice commanded.Colleen could make out the visage of Admiral Tang.“Mrs. Holt, I trust you have a damned good reason for initiating extra terrestrial decontamination protocols.”

“That’s a long story, Admiral, but I won’t be able to tell it if Commander Iverson incinerates what I brought back.”She tried looking through his visor and into his eyes, to see if he knew.

“Brought back from an extra terrestrial encounter?” He asked, his eyes assessing her as well.

“Yes, Sir,” Colleen said.

“Sir,” Iverson said.“I think it is clear that Mrs. Holt has been having difficulty with the loss of her family.”

“Iverson,” Colleen said.“Even if you could shut me up, you’re only delaying the inevitable.They’re coming back in a month, and they’re not going to be quiet.”

“What do you allege they’re coming back for?” Admiral Tang asked.

“An olive branch,” Colleen said.

“A carrot with a stick behind it?” Admiral Tang asked.

“Someone else is wielding the stick,” Colleen said.

Admiral Tang turned to the technician.“How much longer is decontamination protocol?”

“Her items can be released in an hour.Mrs. Holt should finish the decontamination process shortly before then and will be ready to enter quarantine.”

“And what about Commander Iverson?” Colleen asked.

“Ah,” the technician looked nervously at Iverson.“Sir, you will have to go through decontamination and quarantine as well.”

“What?”

“That’s protocol, Commander,” Admiral Tang said.

Iverson looked at her with cold anger in his eyes.

“Petty Officer,” Admiral Tang called out to the MP stationed at the door.“Guard the contents of this decontamination unit.Nothing’s being incinerated unless I give the command.The two of you will go through decontamination, also.”

“Yes, Sir,” the MP said.

An hour later, Colleen and Iverson were quarantined in a small isolation ward and the Admiral had joined them, still in a Hazmat suit.

“Your vehicle’s being covered in sealant and is slated for incineration,” Admiral Tang said.

“Good thing I didn’t stop at my apartment,” Colleen said.“I’ll have to see if USAA covers incineration.If it makes anyone less nervous, I received assurances that their technology eliminated all airborne and surface microbes onboard their ships.”

“I’m not yet convinced you’ve been on any ships,” Admiral Tang said.“So let’s start there.”

Commander Iverson was staying silent, probably waiting to see what she had brought back before he dug himself a deeper hole.Colleen picked up the holo-projector she’d been given, fresh out of the decontamination box.

“How about some alien technology?”

She activated the puck shaped device, and there was Shiro, looking like he was actually standing in the room with them.

“Hello,” the recording began.She barely heard the “What?” that came from inside the Admiral’s hazmat suit.“My name is Takashi Shirogane and I survived the destruction of the Heracles.Commander Holt, Ensign Holt, and myself were captured by a hostile alien race known as the Galra.Their empire spans over half the galaxy and in the year before I escaped I witnessed only a fraction of their cruelty.

“Perhaps for the entire history of their empire, the Galra have been looking for something, a weapon in five parts, scattered across the galaxy.They finally triangulated the unique signature of one of the parts here on Earth, and I was able to escape ahead of them to bring warning.My reception at the Garrison wasn’t warm, however, and with the help of three Garrison cadets, and my brother Keith, I escaped again and together we found what they were looking for.A piece of Voltron.”

“Voltron,” Iverson muttered.He had all but certainly heard the word over and over in the transmissions he had been intercepting.

“Lance Sanchez piloted us away from Earth and through a wormhole to keep the Empire’s eyes off of Earth, at least, for now.We have formed a coalition of alien peoples who oppose the Galran Empire called the Voltron Alliance.I’ve entrusted Colleen Holt with the rest of our story as well as a special project that will help protect the home world.It is our goal to stop the Empire from ever reaching Earth, but we can’t do that alone.I hope to discuss this in person, one month from now when we return.Lastly, I’ll let this be notice that I have resigned my commission with the Galaxy Garrison.I will return to you as an Admiral of the Voltron Alliance.”

The recording ended and Colleen allowed there to be silence for a moment.

“I noticed a lack of information on the whereabouts of your husband and your son,” Admiral Tang said. 

“Still missing,” Colleen said.“They were all separated.They think Sam and Matt were sent to separate work colonies.They think they have a lead on Matt’s location though.”

“The Galaxy Garrison will work to bring them home, however we can, but I have to know, were they interrogated?” Admiral Tang asked.

“The Galra have some sort of mind reading capabilities,” Colleen said.“Shiro said to assume they know everything.”

Admiral Tang turned to Iverson.“What sort of warm reception did Shirogane receive when he got here?”

“My concern was for the safety of this base and this planet,” Iverson said.

“You drugged him while he tried to warn you of a potential invasion,” Colleen said.

“A dead man returned a cyborg,” Iverson growled.“Forgive me for taking precautions.”

“You had every reason to believe he could still be alive,” Colleen said.“Your concern was that he was going to expose your coverup.”

“Cyborg?”

“He’s not a cyborg. The Galra entertain themselves with bloodsport; somewhere along the line he lost his arm and they gave him a high tech replacement.”

“I suppose Shirogane’s survival is evidence enough of a coverup, else I wouldn’t have thoroughly read a report about the accidental destruction of the Heracles.”

“It was necessary to avoid a panic,” Iverson said.

“On who’s authority?”

“I have been ordered to remain silent,” Iverson said.

“You have been given an illegal order, and you’ve followed it,” Admiral Tang said.“I’ll leave that to the council, though.What could you possibly have hoped to achieve by silencing Shirogane?”

“Either an invasion was coming, or it wasn’t.We couldn’t have hoped to stop a truly interstellar species.Negotiation would have been our only hope, and a mass panic was not the background to accomplish that.”

“But it was more than that,” Colleen said.“You knew they were coming, you’d been tracking them well before the Heracles got to Kerberos.The pattern was obvious, you had to have known they would arrive in our solar system then.My daughter already proved that.”Colleen pushed forward one of the data sticks Pidge had given her.

Iverson stared at the data stick and didn’t deny it. 

“Why pin it on Shirogane?” Admiral Tang asked.“Why not a meteor strike if you were going to lie about everything anyways? Why dishonor his memory?”

“A meteor strike would have meant that our equipment failed, that we failed to protect our crew.It would have told the public that we couldn’t handle the dangers of deep space travel.”

“I suppose you would have preferred to pin the blame on the less experienced Ensign,” Colleen said.

“But I knew it would just make you dig.”

“You never fooled my daughter; she saw right through it when I was in denial, and then she found Voltron and saved Earth.”

“Alright,” Admiral Tang said.“Back to Voltron.”

“Of course,” Colleen said, unable to keep her eyes off of Iverson’s stewing defeat.“The wormhole took them to Voltron’s base, a rather large mothership of sorts.When the Empire took their first steps, they began with a surprise attack against their longtime allies, the Alteans.The Alteans had created Voltron, but it’s based on a technology they barely understand and I won’t pretend to even grasp.Each of the five pieces requires a neural link with a pilot, a very specific pilot.Lose one and the rest can only operate at a fraction of the power that it can wield when all five are united.Unfortunately, pilots can’t just be swapped in, it’s… picky.”

“An artificial intelligence?”

“Of a sort.It only works with compatible pilots and they’re few and far between.Story goes they were down a pilot when the Galra attacked.At a fraction of it’s power they chose to scatter it rather than risk the Galra taking it.The mothership was sent away and two of their people were placed in stasis until Voltron returned.When I say pilots are few and far between, I mean this all started sixty-five hundred years ago.The two Alteans woke up to find that they were possibly the last of their people left alive.”

“Shirogane made it sound like you have all five pieces and a pilot for each one,” Admiral Tang said.

“You can take this how you will, but the Alteans believe that Voltron and the pilots are all tied to fate.Shiro, his brother Keith, my daughter, and Sanchez and Kilisi are each a pilot of Voltron.They’ve done experiments to try to get others to pilot the components but they’ve all failed.Maybe after sixty-five hundred years the onboard AI was willing to ‘bond’ with whoever came along, but as far as the Alteans are concerned, the five of them are the only ones who can pilot Voltron.”

“How superior can this technology be against this Empire if they’ve had sixty-five hundred years of advancement?” Iverson asked.

“It’s only speculation, but they believe that the Empire shifted to deify combat and devalue scientific discovery.The empire takes technology they come across and integrates it, poorly, into their systems.Voltron has destroyed everything that’s been thrown at them.Their biggest tactical advantage, though, is the wormhole generator onboard the mothership.The Galra don’t have that technology and it means they can drop their fleet anywhere they want to in the galaxy.”

“Which brings us to this alliance,” Admiral Tang said. 

“Besides the Alteans and the Humans, there’s currently five peoples in the Alliance at different levels of advancement.They all contribute resources and personnel to the fight against the Empire and enjoy a mutual aid treaty.”

“Five planets against an empire that spans most of the galaxy,” Iverson said contemptuously.

“The Empire is spread thin and the Alliance can pop in wherever they want to destroy infrastructure and leave.Their aim is to grow, to let the rest of the galaxy know that defeating the Galra is possible.”

“And their return is to ask us to join this alliance,” Admiral Tang said.

“Yes,” Colleen said.“And we get technology.Shipyards in our asteroid belts to build ships to be run and operated by humans.”

“And that’s what they want from us? Humans to fight in their war?”

“It’s the galaxy’s war,” Colleen said.“Unhindered, we’re only years away from being on their front lines.”

“What are their demands?” Admiral Tang asked. 

“Pilots, soldiers, food, and production capacity,” Colleen said.“They’re offering to build us ship yards and technology transfers for automation, enhanced production, agricultural output, and some medical technologies.”

“And what are Shirogane’s demands?”

“Honorable discharges for everyone, including retroactively for Keith Kogane,” Colleen said.“As well as pardons for all crimes committed before they left Earth.”

“Honorable discharge?” Iverson asked.“Kogane struck a superior officer, your daughter committed espionage against the Garrison.”

“It’s a small price to pay for what you get, and for what you did to our families,” Colleen said.

“They don’t want the pilots of this Voltron to be beholden to a specific military,” Admiral Tang observed.“Nevermind that Shirogane’s claimed an Admiralty.What else?”

“Assurances that you aren’t monitoring their families and that they will be able to visit Earth to see them.”

“Are we?” Admiral Tang asked Iverson.

“We were,” Iverson said.“For the first three months after they disappeared.”

Admiral Tang grimmaced.“Alright,” he said.“Now what did you mean when you said they don’t intend to be quiet when they return.”

“I meant that you won’t be able to keep any of this quiet.Either you let the public know, or they’ll let them know for you.They picked up a journalist while they were here.”

“God damn it,” Iverson said.

“And where else do we need to quarantine?” Admiral Tang asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” Colleen said.“They were rather certain that microbes couldn’t be brought back.”

“The council’s not going to like that they’re forcing our hand,” Admiral Tang said.

“Imagine all the things I learned today that I didn’t like,” Colleen said.“And yet here I am, ready to work with you.”

“As a messenger?”

“As the designer of Earth’s first interstellar fleet,” Colleen said, holding up the second data stick she’d brought with her.“I’ve brought back some specs; give me a team and when they return we can start building.”

* * *

However it worked that the words that aliens spoke to her in their native tongue and she heard it in her own, didn’t work for the camera.She had been given a program that would do the job, but she didn’t actually want that.Hettie wanted the people back on Earth to hear the original, unedited dialogue.Pidge had given her a translation/transcription program though, so there wouldn’t be any problem with subtitles.She still kept her own notes so she could match up the transcription with what she heard.

“You’re under no obligation to talk with me about what you went through, of course, but I think you have a story that needs to be told,” Hettie told the Balthan individual in front of her.

“There are so few of my people left.Perhaps some day all that will be remembered are our stories.”

She hadn’t intended for her interview to be a living memory of a forgotten people, but she had a duty to show the different experiences of the war. 

“Okay,” Hettie said.“I’m going to start recording and then we can begin.”She switched on the two cameras she had set up and sat down.

“What is your name,” Hettie asked.

“Pevin, of the Tenet Home, of the Seventh District.”

“May I call you Pevin?”

“You may.”

“Alright Pevin, how do you remember your people before the Galra came to your world?”

“Not well,” Pevin said.“I was very young.I remember playing with other children in my cohort in the Tenet Home. I remember the Eldest teaching us the songs of our history, though I’ve forgotten many of them, now.I remember playing with my friends, and exploring after dark.”

“Had any of your people left your solar system before the Galra came?” Hettie asked.

“Some had,” Pevin said.“The names of those from Seventh District were known to all of us.We did not have space ships of our own, but a neighboring system made contact with my people three generations before my cohort.They began a cultural exchange.I think they told us about the Galra before they arrived, but I’m not sure.”

“What happened when the Galra first made contact with your people?”

“Much was not told to us at the time,” Pevin said.“We were so young.But I remember the fear of our elders.I know there was never any battle.We had no hope to win.We had no leverage with them.Whatever our original terms of surrender were, I’m fairly certain they had no reason to make any concessions that didn’t keep us useful to them.A lot stayed the same for me then.I still lived in Tenet House with the elders, I still learned and played with my cohort.There was less food, but the elders gave us a tea that would deaden the hunger.The broadcasts we used to watch were heavily controlled before they stopped all together.Some of the older cohorts left.The Galra said they were old enough to work. 

“Much of what happened outside of Tenet House was not told to me at the time, but I found out later that they implemented a rationing system.Those who were not considered valuable to the Galra were not given rations, and it fell on the others of the district to provide.That was in the beginning.There was much taken from our planet in the beginning.The environment changed, food changed.Shortly before I became old enough for the Galra’s labor standards, there began talk that our planet was being used up as quickly as the Galra could take from it.That our people were being used up as quickly as the Galra could use us.That as a people we were not valuable to them, the Galra could kill us all without firing a single shot, because we had given ourselves over to death when they arrived.Things changed, people began to resist.When the Galra decided I was old enough to work, I decided I was old enough to fight.

“How large was the resistance?” Hettie asked.

“Small, at first, I barely survived when they crushed it, but in crushing it they sparked something larger,” Pevin said. 

“How did your time in the resistance end?” Hettie asked.

Pevin pointed to one of his two missing arms, both on the same side of his body.“I think I impressed the Galran commander I was supposed to kill.Even after this one was blasted off, I took down three sentries and his Lieutenant.I woke up the next day on his command ship.The day after that was my first time in his arena.”

Hettie hadn’t known that Pevin had been a resistance fighter when she’d arranged the interview, she’d asked for someone who had been in one of the Galra’s arenas.She would definitely circle back on that though. 

“Can you describe your first time in the arena?” Hettie asked.

“I had fought before, fought the Galra, but I had never fought someone who was not my enemy, someone who had spent the night before explaining life onboard the commander’s ship to me.The worst thing you can do, though, is to not fight with your all.That is how you die.”

“Did you win?” Hettie asked.

“None of us win,” Pevin said.“What do you win by defeating an opponent you did not want to fight?I did not defeat my opponent that day, or the next. I showed promise though, so I was kept alive.”

“How often do matches end in death?” Hettie asked.

“When the commander becomes bored with one of us, or has picked up too many gladiators, or sometimes when one gladiator just kills another in the fight.”

“Was it generally expected that you would not fight to the death?” Hettie asked.

“I believe we saw things differently from the Galra,” Pevin said.“They did not understand mercy.They did not understand that we wouldn’t want to kill the ones we survived with.To them it was an amusing insult to leave an opponent alive.It was as if we were saying we did not fear to fight them again.The Galra allowed us that insult.They had their own ways to amuse themselves when they decided a gladiator did not belong in their arena.This was frequent when a number of new people were brought aboard.The ones that did not show promise, or who resisted, were culled quickly.”

“How were people executed onboard the ship you were on?”

This was the first time Pevin hesitated to answer.

“Horribly,” was all Pevin said.

Hettie decided to move on.“Besides ensuring your continued survival, were there any benefits to winning a fight?”

“More food.Gladiators who were favored among the fleet could receive various favorable treatments.When I saw the Champion with the arm the Galra had given him, I wondered if I could someday find favor enough to replace what I had lost.”

“The fights are broadcast to the fleet?”

“Yes,” Pevin said.“Winners were… allowed to remain to watch the projections of fights onboard other ships.The Champion’s fights were always played.” 

There was a way he said ‘champion’ again.“A specific champion?” Hettie asked.

“Admiral Shiro, I saw the battle where he was scarred.” Pevin gestured towards their face.“He won in spite of the injury and was gifted to Commander Sendak.”

Hettie had worked a human trafficking story early in her career.It wasn’t the first time she had heard about a person being gifted to someone else, but it still gave her pause. 

Hettie hadn’t anticipated that Pevin would have any knowledge of Shiro’s time captured by the Galra.Shiro had only been with the Galra for about a year; she was surprised to realize they’d given him some sort of title.

“Is there any sort of retirement from the arena that doesn’t involve death?” Hettie asked.

“No,” Pevin said.“We serve one purpose for the empire.”

“Assuming someone survives their first few fights, how long does a gladiator typically last?”

“Perhaps six deca phoebes,” Pevin said.“I survived four before Voltron took the ship I was on.”

“Was it usual for gladiators to be moved from ship to ship?” Hettie asked.

“Yes, they don’t like to see the same fights over and over again, though the champion moved quickly to Zarkon’s arena after he remained undefeated on Sendak’s ship.His last fight on that ship was the same as when he was scarred.He lost his arm in the battle and still won.”

“Did he stay in Zarkon’s arena until he escaped?” Hettie asked.

“No one told us he escaped,” Pevin said.“I watched his final battle, and then never saw him again until I was rescued.But as Zarkon’s champion, he was sent to tour the fleet, to fight against each commanders’ champion.The first fight of that tour was the last fight of his I saw.”

“What do you think set him apart from other gladiators?” Hettie asked.

“Resilience,” Pevin said.“Or perhaps, he seemed to have a single minded focus, the ability to wait, even as he took injuries, to strike at just the right moment.As soon as you thought you knew how he was going to handle a fight he would surprise you.Even when he took his worst injuries, you could imagine that he had anticipated it and planned for it, already knew how to go forward with half his face caved in.”

“Did Zarkon allow mercy in his arena?” Hettie asked.

“Everyone there was among the best,” Pevin said.“They were not as easily replaceable as others were.The Champion showed mercy, if that is what you are asking.”

She had very little insight into one of the key leaders of the Alliance outside of what they wanted her to see.

“I understand there are mostly just mechanical sentries onboard Galran ships.How much did you actually interact with the Galra?”

“We were their entertainment,” Pevin said.“They did not leave it up to the sentries to organize and manage the arena.They were very involved.”

“What were they like?” Hettie asked.“When you interacted with them.”

“Different from ship to ship,” Pevin said.“They appreciated when we put on a good show, but there was always a contempt for us.Some were chatty and condescending, others were wholly antagonistic.The third ship I was on had two officers who competed among themselves to see how far they could push one of us before we would snap.Even though that was the goal, the punishment was most extreme.We were their entertainment and nothing more.”

“Was that unusual, for them to use you for other forms of entertainment outside of the arena?”

“No,” Pevin said.“Has your world encountered the Galra yet?”

“Only briefly,” Hettie said.Interview subjects would start asking their own questions when they wanted to deflect from a line of questions.Though their questions could often lead to their own insights.

“Do you think my experiences will help prepare your people to survive the Galra?”

“I think it will provide insight for what can happen under the Galra,” Hettie said.“Do you think it is inevitable that my world would have a similar experience with the Galra as your own?”

“There are many different peoples I have encountered onboard Galran ships, many people from many different worlds the Galra have conquered or destroyed.Many more I have seen broadcast.The Galra are like a plague sweeping across the galaxy.Perhaps the Champion’s alliance can stop them, but I’m sure others have tried before and wound up in their own arenas.Do you think your world would be safe?”

“I don’t think I’m qualified to answer that question,” Hettie said.“Do you think what happened to your home world in the end was inevitable?”

“It was only a matter of time,” Pevin said.“Perhaps our destruction could have been held off longer, but it was always going to happen.”

“What do you believe contributed to the escalation in the conflict between your peoples?”

“I was never a scholar,” Pevin said.

“You lived through it,” Hettie said.

Hettie wasn’t sure if he was going to respond, but then, “We were a proud people,” Pevin said.“We knew in the beginning that we could not survive a conflict.We thought we could survive under them, but eventually, how could we let them destroy us as a people without a fight?There was always going to become a point where we were no longer useful for them as a people.At least it was on our terms.At least my people did not go with their heads bowed.Perhaps we slowed them down, if only by the smallest margin.If there was nothing left for us but to die, then we would die as Balthans rather than grolomns ignoring the slaughter house they lived next to.”

“What parts of the rebellion do you believe were most successful?” Hettie asked.What were the lessons learned? Were there any lessons to be learned from war besides the obvious.She couldn’t guarantee that Earth would stay out of things, or that the Galra would never occupy Earth.People like Pevin had the only insights for how the Galra responded to rebellion.

Pevin just stared at her.

* * *

“Hunk!” Sefina exclaimed the moment she picked up.“How long do I have you for?”

“Not long,” Hunk said.“I’m just in this sector to drop off some sensor arrays and then I’m off to the next one.” He could work and chat at the same time.“Is anyone else home?”

“No,” Sefina said.“They’re out, I’ve got you all to myself.Have you been safe?”

“So safe,” Hunk said.“You wouldn’t believe how safe I’ve been.”

“Ah, you’re probably right,” Sefina said.“You’re staying in your robot though, right?”

“Of course,” Hunk said.

“Get in the robot, Shinji!” Sefina said.

Hunk laughed.“Yeah, that’s what it felt like in the beginning.I mean, no one was actually making me but…”

“Everyone just expected you to do it,” Sefina said.

“Yeah,” Hunk said.“Now, I’m the one making me do it.”

Sefina looked sad. 

“Hey,” Hunk said.“I’m going to be alright.”

“Remember when you were little?” Sefina asked. “And you’d come into my room at night when there were storms?Just so you could hog all my blankets.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said.“I remember.”

“I wish you were still that young,” Sefina said.

“I couldn’t wait to grow up,” Hunk said.

“You were always so impatient,” Sefina said.

“So, gossip,” Hunk said.

“I was expecting you to dump it all on me when we were on the ship,” Sefina said. 

“Well, everyone I have to gossip about was right there,” Hunk said.

“So give me all the juicy details, I’ve been living for your soap opera,” Sefina said.

“The juicy details will have to wait till I have longer,” Hunk said.“Cliff notes version: Okay, not sure if you realized it, but Keith is Keith Kogane, the guy Lance was obsessed with back at the Garrison.”

“Wait,” Sefina said.“Hotshot? They were like, joined at the hip when I saw them.”

“Okay,” Hunk said.“I think it was love at first sight for Keith but he was super awkward about it and Lance took it the wrong way.The guy was still pining for Lance when this all started.Lance is still completely oblivious, but he think’s Keith is the bees knees now.I can’t even tell you the real juicy Keith and Lance gossip, the Alliance decided it was Top Secret.”

“They’re going to make movies about you guys and some Hollywood reporter’s going to stick a microphone in my face and ask me what I think of my space hero brother and his friends and I’m just going to have to tell the world that you’re all a bunch of teenage space dorks.”

“Hey, I’ve kept a level head out here,” Hunk said.“Moving on, though, Pidge already boasted about most of the stuff she pulled at the Garrison, I just wish I actually solved the mystery myself instead of stumbling into the answers.Lance decided he was her big brother and wore her down.Pidge is still super shady these days though, half her projects are personal and top secret, I’m pretty sure she’s Batmanned the entire fleet in case anyone double crosses us, and she’s constantly stashing fruit somewhere to get around Coran’s sugar restrictions.

“What else?You already know Shiro is Keith’s foster brother.Shiro’s still the team Dad.Even when he’s super busy being Admiral of the fleet.Allura might be seeing one of the Council women, still trying to figure that out.Coran’s working twenty different jobs so he doesn’t have time to do anything interesting.”

“So what’s the Hunk gossip,” Sefina asked.

“Um, level headed people don’t have gossip,” Hunk said.

“Fine, what’s up with you?” Sefina asked.

Hunk sighed.“I’ve been growing impatient,” he said. 

“Always impatient,” Sefina said.

“There’s all these people out there that need to be protected but it’s always wait wait wait.”

“Why the wait?” Sefina asked.

“We need to be able to handle a large influx of refugees,” Hunk said.“I get it, but it’s hard to just focus on infrastructure.The Galra do horrible things to people’s worlds, make them dependent on Galran food supplies.They’ve got entire planets dedicated just to making food that these other worlds are dependent on.Not to mention all the work colonies they have.Meanwhile, events might not be waiting for us.”

“What do you mean?” Sefina asked. 

“Word’s been getting around I guess,” Hunk said.“People hear about the alliance and they jump the gun.We just found out there was an uprising in one of the systems near the front.The Galra squashed it, but a group got away with a few ships.Next thing we know they’re showing up in another system trying to kick up a rebellion that also didn’t go well.We’re trying to find them, but they’re doing a good job of staying hidden.We’ve been trying to sew chaos, but we still wanted to control it.If this keeps up we may be getting an influx of refugees soon that we won’t be equipped to handle.”

“So what do you need to be able to help them?” Sefina asked.

“Worlds to settle them on and transports to get them there, or at least, transports we can use to keep their world supplied if we’re not actually moving anyone.Of course then we need food.The farm worlds would be a prime candidate if they weren’t so close to the heart of the Empire.We’ve identified a few planets with a range of different ecological conditions, and the Sif and Nang’ok have started building up infrastructure, but it’s going to be a while before we can accommodate millions if not billions of people.”

“I thought these aliens could build things fast, don’t they want to build a fleet in our solar system?”

“This is an order of magnitude thing,” Hunk said.“None of our allies can build that fast.Well, I figure the Ocaampans could, but they’re not going to give us their technology.”

“What, like pipes and roads and buildings are too advanced for you to handle?” Sefina asked.

“No, but the ability to make all of it super fast is, as far as they’re concerned,” Hunk said.

“So what would you have to give them to get them to build it for you?”

Get too close to a problem.

“Sefina, has anyone ever told you you’re a genius.”

“It’s come up,” Sefina said.

“Okay,” Hunk said.“I love you.I’ve got to move on to the next system and I’ll be out of range, but tell Momma Talia and Momma Natia that I love them and that I’m definitely staying safe.”

“I love you too,” Sefina said.“But how about you actually stay safe.”

“I’ll try,” Hunk said.“Later.”

He needed to talk to Pidge.

* * *

Hettie was starting to get a headache.The Manticalian refugee she was interviewing had been very open with her about her experiences, but the way she spoke was hard to follow.Speech wasn’t broken down into statements so much as it flowed from one thought to another with an irregular cadence.Breathing didn’t appear to be a limiting factor either, because she never seemed to stop for breaths.It would be up to the editors if they wanted to use the footage, but there were still salient points Hettie thought were important.

“That’s why they died for trade with the Kalbots are cowards all of us were there when the first ships were so much bigger than I had seen the executions with my own eyes were blinded by the blast for days we waited until the Kalbots abandoned our people like I had on the ship that got away.”

If the woman had been blinded by a blast she didn’t look it.Either she’d been healed or the ‘for days’ referred to the time it had taken to recover instead of the time they waited.She’d gotten most of the story of her journey, from the time she had escaped to when she’d been picked up by the Alliance.

“Could you explain to me how trade worked under Galran rule?” Hettie asked.

“The finance minister is beholden to the Ketran Guild was crippled by the Galra started approving exports from my office of inspections were always done by…”

Hettie took notes, but it was all going to take time to untangle.

* * *

Shiro’s idea of relaxation lately had become the smaller meetings with just team Voltron.“How’s the retrofit going?” he asked. 

“About fifty percent of the strike team is wearing the new armor,” Keith said.“I think the latest mission speaks to the effectiveness, but they are a tic slower.”

“Still worth it?” Shiro asked.

“Yes,” Keith said.“We’re still effective, and carrying someone back from a mission is slower than any new armor is going to make them.”

“They’ll be just as fast as before once they get used to the new configuration,” Lance said.“They’d be the first to tell us if this wasn’t working out.Honestly, I’m more worried for the rest of the fleet.Most of their training happens planet side; they don’t have the same facilities we have and the training they can do onboard ship is limited.”

“Do you have a proposal to deal with that?” Shiro asked.General Tanith had already proposed a solution, and he was actually meeting with him next to discuss it, but he wanted to see what Lance came up with.

“A double rotation,” Lance said, clearly excited to get to hype his idea.“Obviously there’s only so much we can rotate ground troops out of the fleet to get to the training grounds. Not only would we be temporarily loosing ships and crew, but constantly opening up wormholes isn’t that great either.So however we want to do the rotation we split it up.Part goes planet side, the other comes onboard the castle.We only capitalize on the training deck for so long each day, so we could open it up and cycle crews through.Long term though, I think we could have a dedicated training ship that travels with the fleet.Just a large ship set up with different training environments.”

Shiro nodded.Not a bad idea.“Keith,” he said.“You’ll handle deconflicting training schedules for the training deck between the Strike Team and the fleet.Lance, you’ll talk to the ship yard command.Get a proposal together.”

“Okay, wow,” Lance said, beaming.“I’ll get right on it.”

“Alright,” Shiro said.“I’m opening up the meeting for comments.What do you all have for me?”

“I’ll be sending you all preparatory materials for our meeting with the Thelisians,” Coran said. 

“You know,” Pidge said.“I think we’re more impressive to prospective allies if you leave us a bit of a mystery.”

“Woah,” Lance said. “I am very impressive in person.You just don’t want to do another formal event.”

“We’re all attending,” Shiro said.“It shows respect.What’s next?”

“We’re going to get the Ocaampans to help us with settlement planets,” Hunk said.

“We are?” Keith asked.“They’re not going to do a technology transfer.”

“One,” Hunk said.“They owe us, like they super super owe us.But two, and more importantly, we’re not asking them to.We’re asking them to send their own ships out to the planets we’ve selected, do their thing, building things we design so there’s no technology transfer, and then they can take all the build equipment with them when they leave.”

“Will they take that as an invitation for us to ramp up our war efforts?” Princess Allura asked.

“Not if we make it a given that there will be refugees whether they help us or not,” Hunk said.“We may not even have to do that ourselves with these rebels running around.We’re going to be dealing with refugees whether or not they help us, so if they want to do their whole benevolent pacifist thing, they can do it by helping to settle and feed a bunch of people fleeing Galran rule.”

“What about transports?” Shiro asked.

“Our design, no weapons, they just mass produce them,” Hunk said. 

“That could convince them,” Pidge said.

“And if it doesn’t, but we still see an influx of refugees?” Shiro asked.

“We might have to slow down other efforts to handle it,” Princess Allura said. 

Hopefully there would be another option if it came to that.Slowing down could mean more opportunities for the Empire to adapt.

“I’ll contact our Ambassador and begin talks,” Princess Allura said.“If Hunk could work up a proposal.”

“Done,” Hunk said, tapping his tablet.“And sent.”

“The Ocaampans respect you,” Princess Allura said.“You should at least attend the first meeting.”

“I’ve insulted them multiple times,” Hunk said.

“They don’t hold grudges, and appreciate people who are straightforward.”

Hunk sighed.

“What’s next?” Shiro asked.

No one said anything so Lance cut in with the last item on the agenda.

“Morale night is tonight and it is going to be a surprise, though I’m going to suggest active wear.”

“We’re always active,” Hunk said.

“You’ll love it,” Lance said.

Shiro had a meeting with the training command.He’d have to watch his schedule for the next time.

“Alright,” Shiro said.“Good work everyone.You all have some time before dinner, so get started on your projects.”

Hettie had been sitting in on the meeting quietly and she approached him after everyone left.

“You give them a lot of responsibilities,” she commented.

“I expect a lot from them,” Shiro said.“It was a necessity in the beginning, we just didn’t have enough people.Now… The Alteans talk about the need for Paladins to be self actualized to function optimally with their lions.I was never worried about Pidge or Hunk, in terms of what they did when they weren’t in combat.They were always going to have something to keep them out of their own heads and focused on their own passions.I just needed to give them some creative control.It was Keith and Lance I worried about.I think what we have now is working, though I’m still not sure what exactly they both need.They both have very close bonds with their lions though, Lance especially.”

“You’ve also managed to emplace two of them at high levels of the leadership structure, and the other two with an influential role or a revered status, all of them still in their teens,” Hettie commented.

“I wouldn’t say I emplaced Lance in a revered status,” Shiro said.“He managed that on his own.”

“And you the top military advisor to the council at twenty-five, in command of the fleet,” Hettie prodded.“And I hate to apply human standards to another species, but I understand Princess Allura is little older than your brother, and she leads the council.Is there an experience gap at the top of this organization?”

“Yes,” Shiro said.“But that’s not because we’ve made it centric around humans and Alteans.Though they had been preparing for war with the Galra for a long time, the Antedians haven’t fought in a war in generations, neither had the Sif, and the Nang’ok had solely been repelling an invasion, the Plynthions and the Kormians have only ever fought ground wars.We are fighting a type of war that no one but the Alteans have experience with and even then only at a much smaller scale, but when the Alliance formed we had already been fighting the Galra for a while.Princess Allura was essentially trained to lead this alliance from the cradle, Pidge and Hunk have an intuitive grasp of their respective fields and see possibilities others ignore, Keith is highly adaptive mid-combat and Lance has more than earned the respect he has gained throughout the Alliance.For myself, I understand the Galra, and Earth’s understanding of asymmetric warfare is more advanced than anything in the rest of the fleet as far as I can tell.Maybe not our most endearing quality to our interstellar partners, but outside of our rare moment of peace on Earth, we’ve got the most experience of anyone when it comes to war.”

“Do you think that those who are best at prosecuting a war are the ones who should be leading this alliance?” Hettie asked.

“There are many people leading the Alliance,” Shiro said.“While influential, I am one voice.I command the fleet to fulfill the decisions of the council.” He stood up.“I have a meeting I need to get to, would you like to walk with me?”

“Of course,” Hettie said.

They started walking towards General Tanith’s office. 

“So what happens should Earth join the Alliance?”Hettie asked.“There are Generals and Admirals who have spent decades studying warfare, would you defer to their judgement?”

“I would of course listen to their council and try to get as much as possible from their experience, but none of them have experience in this brand of warfare, and I am no longer a part of any Earth military.”

“Do you see yourself as representing Earth’s interest in the Alliance?” Hettie asked.

“I don’t,” Shiro said.“This position is bigger than that, the war is bigger than any one people, and I don’t think my role should be fulfilled by someone who represents one planet.”

“Do you think you represent the galaxy, or do you represent the war as a whole?”

Shiro laughed.“I didn’t expect this to get so abstract,” he said.“You’re still concerned my only goal is to destroy the Galra.”

“I don’t think you’re so single minded,” Hettie said.“No, I think you see the bigger picture, I’m just not sure what side you would come down on if you had to choose between the benefit of the galaxy (in lieu of Earth), or the destruction of your enemy.”

“I don’t know what I could tell you about myself that wouldn’t sound like a platitude,” Shiro said.“As I said, my job is to use the fleet to fulfill the will of the council, and as far as your concerns go, the council is in the right hands.”

“Princess Allura, who believes that her people will go extinct with herself and her closest advisor?Because of the Galra?”

“I can’t speak for her, but I do have faith in her intentions for the Alliance,” Shiro said.They arrived outside of General Tanith’s office. “Are you ready for your first outing with the Strike Team?”It would be her first time with boots on the ground.

“I’ve been ready,” Hettie said.Keith was still reluctant, but he’d admitted she could keep up.

“Lance has the most experience with escort missions,” Shiro said.“He’ll keep you safe as long as you follow his instructions.”

“I have no intention of running off to do my own thing,” Hettie said. 

“I didn’t think you would,” Shiro said.“Enjoy your evening.”

“You as well, Admiral,” Hettie said.

He signaled at General Tanith’s door which opened a moment later

“General,” Shiro said.“What do you think about a training ship?”

* * *

Hettie had planned on opening with soft questions when she interviewed Lance.She didn’t want to ambush him by asking about the worst things that had happened to him during the war.Besides, there was a lot of insight he could giver her on the ground elements of the Alliance as well as a human perspective on the war altogether.She was always going to get to those tougher questions, but it was best to lead into it.

“So you probably want to talk about the sentries,” Lance said as soon as he’d sat down.

“Will you be comfortable talking about that?” Hettie asked, always ready to adjust on the fly. 

Lance shrugged, his anticipated discomfort naked on his face.“I’ve gotten used to talking about it.Hunk said you’d been asking about the whole thing.”

“I’ve gotten a lot of the details already,” Hettie said.“I was given access to some of the reports.”

“Ha, yeah I’m sorry if you had to read mine,” Lance said.

His after action report had covered months of lived experience and had had to break down the iterations into chunks and some of it was hard to follow.

"I wanted to ask you a bit of what doesn’t go into the reports,” Hettie said. 

“Like what?” Lance asked.

“Like the motivations behind the decisions you made,” Hettie said.“A lot of these decisions were made by Admiral Shirogane and the council.His report stated that the decision was made to send only two people onboard because two people could avoid the sentries and avoid giving the AI an opportunity to learn from Alliance battle tactics.I suppose it makes sense to make denying the AI a chance to learn a priority instead of the bomb if you can go back in time and try again.You were the one insisting that only two people board the ship.You went through these iterations hundreds of times, though.Wasn’t there a point where a guaranteed success necessitated changing tactics?”

“You mean, why didn’t we send in the Strike Team,” Lance said.

“Did you worry that there could be a finite number of times you could go back?That one of the times you died would have been the end?”

“I did,” Lance said.“There were points where the fear that I couldn’t go back was almost crippling, but taking the Strike Team was never an option for me.”

“Why not?” Hettie asked.

“Because I couldn’t accept that it would mean some of them would die,” Lance said.“That first time through, they all died.They were my team and I listened to them die, I saw their bodies.Giving up meant I would see them again, and then it would be permanent.There was no way I could have gotten them all through that gauntlet.As long as I could control the variables I knew I could get though it.”

This part, at least, needed bluntness.“How long could that last, though?You were tortured.What did that do to your ability to keep going?”She would eventually ask him to describe his time as a prisoner.It was important insight into the Galra, but also a part of what described the cost of the war.That would have to wait for the end of the interview though.

“Yeah.I wasn’t exactly in a good headspace after that,” Lance looked a bit distant, rubbing the back of his neck.“I think all that did was narrow in my thinking.Maybe I should have considered it, but I didn’t.I was obsessed with this idea that I could stop anyone from dying and any other solution just wasn’t acceptable, wasn’t worth thinking about.”

“You still conduct missions with the Strike Team,” Hettie said.“There are always expected losses for ground troops.How do you reconcile that with what seems like an inability to accept that inevitability?

“I don’t,” Lance said.“I mean, I know that people I lead are going to die.I know I can’t stop that, even if I did everything perfectly, but for that one battle I could.”

“Your current operations are largely hit and run tactics,” Hettie said.“You’re leveraging a number of advantages against the Galra, but eventually the Alliance is going to switch to more longterm and large-scale operations, like liberating planets or occupying sectors of the galaxy.Heavy casualties are unavoidable.Especially now that Galran sentries have been upgraded.”

Lance shook his head.“You’re right, to an extent that’s unavoidable, but we’re not just accepting losses.We aren’t just hitting quick objectives, we’re testing our tactics and gaining a better understanding of Galran capabilities and strategy.The Galra can change how they deploy their sentries but their capabilities are static.Every battle is analyzed, we learn from each one and we leverage the diverse problem solving skills of all our members to innovate and change.The Empire is massive and ancient.More than anything, more than Voltron, more than the wormhole generator, our relative abilities to adapt is what is going to ensure our victory. 

“It’s like back on Earth, the Garrison was a part of the Global Initiative.As a new organization it started off with less funding than some individual countries' space programs, but they were the first to have a permanent base on the moon, the first to send a manned mission past Mars.Then, hey, it’s completely changed the world, and for kids like me; I grew up in a small country that didn’t even have its own space program.Of course, I had plenty of opportunities in Cuba.There was always going to be the family business and there was a time where an athletics career seemed like the best opportunity for me to actually go out and, you know, actually do something, but there were things I wanted to do, interests I had that the system there just sort of dismissed, my schools actually discouraged me, because I’d had this diagnosis of ADHD as a kid and I had trouble for a while.The Garrison had this it-takes-all-kinds mentality though and they gave me a chance to prove myself.Though, then the whole Kerberos thing happened so, you know, I’m not saying it’s all good, but the point is… Wait, what were we…? Right, so the Alliance has a lot of cool advantages.”

“How much will those advantages matter when you’re removing an entrenched military force from within a civilian population?” Hettie asked.

“I think they’ll matter a lot,” Lance said.“I know there’s no perfect run of this war wherewe can just keep ourselves from suffering any losses, but there’s no way we avoid major losses if we don’t fight this war.Unopposed, the Empire is inevitable.”

“It is opposed, though.Is it inevitable that the Galra will reach Earth?”

“Of course not,” Lance said.“But that’s all on how successful the Alliance is.”

“Do you think Earth should join the Alliance?”

Lance hesitated.“I mean, if I could stop the war from ever affecting my family, I would.My Tío already told me he could rejoin the military if Earth joins.He fought in the Last War.I don’t want him fighting in this one.I don’t want anyone to.You know, this war could last for years and years.My niece and nephew will be old enough to fight someday.I don’t want them in this war, but what I want doesn’t really change anything.I do think Earth should be involved in its own defense, though.Stopping the Galra where they are, means not having to fight them in our own solar system.There’s a ton of advantages to joining the Alliance that I’m sure Princess Allura can better talk about.”

“And if joining makes Earth a target?” Hettie asked.

“It would.The Galra can’t amass a strike force near any member planets without us knowing about it, though,” Lance said.“They’ve tried, with the Antedians and the Nang’ok.We can track them, and we can pop in where we’re needed.”

It was a lot of the same talking points she’d already gotten from the princess and Shiro.

“How has the war affected you, personally?” Hettie asked.

Lance didn’t answer right away.Eventually though, he said, “I feel like I’ve found my calling.On Earth I had dreams I was chasing.Out here, though, I know I’m doing what I was meant to do.I’m fighting a war that needs to be fought.”

“You think you were born to fight?” Hettie asked.

Lance shrugged.“I think I’m meant to fight for an eventual peace.”

“You don’t think that’s contradictory?”

“Well, that’s just… what’s it called, the paradox of tolerance, isn’t it?Should you tolerate intolerance?Should you avoid fighting a warmonger?Should the Allies have just let the Axis powers take over the world?There is no peace under Galran rule.It’s just another form of violence.Look what happened with the Ocaampans.The Galra got a foothold on their planet and they were unwilling to force them off.Then the Galra got their hands on highly advanced technology and it was up to the Alliance to be willing to do what it took to get it back.If we’d gone the pacifist route, the Galra would have the AI and they would have a bomb that could destroy the Alliance in a single go.The war would have effectively been over and the Galra would have won.There can’t be peace until the Empire is stoped.”

Hettie had to collect her thoughts after that.“So you find being a paladin fulfilling, but you’ve also been through many traumatic events.How has that affected you?”

“Well, obviously, I’m still mission capable,” Lance said.

“There are more concerns than whether or not you are still capable of fighting in the war,” Hettie said.

Lance shrugged.“If we were on Earth I’m sure I’d have been diagnosed with PTSD by now.The Ocaampans are awesome, though.Couldn’t give them a psychology book, but they could, like, see the effects of trauma on the brain, and they’ve got some cool ways to help address that.Actually, some of it’s similar to Earth technology, just heavily tailored to the individual.I am still messed up by what happened though.I won’t pretend I’m not.I’ve talked to my family about it, but I was glad I could tell them that I’m getting a lot of help, and that my team has been supporting me.We support each other.”

“How does your team support you?” Hettie asked.

“They do a lot,” Lance said.“Afterwards, I had trouble being alone, they make sure to keep me company or let me crash with them.Shiro checks in with me a lot.Hunk’s like an expert at comfort, Pidge acts like I’m essential to her plans, and Keith’s just always there for me.”

“You all look out for one another,” Hettie said.

“Of course,” Lance said.“We have to.No one’s left behind.That’s not just us, that’s the Alliance.It’s what sets us apart from the Empire.”

“You were a prisoner for a long period of time,” Hettie said.

“Yeah, but now I’m not.”Lance said.

“Because of a temporal anomaly,” Hettie said.

“They came for me,” Lance said.“Even if… I was in the Empire’s greatest stronghold and they came for me.Keith came for me.That’s what mattered.”

“We talked about how the war would change as the Alliance grows,” Hettie said.“Can you say that no one will be left behind when you begin mass invasions of planets?”

“Not as long as I’m a Paladin,” Lance said.

“The front of this war is massive,” Hettie said.“Can one Paladin keep that principle for the entire Alliance.”

“I’m not alone,” Lance said.“We don’t leave people behind.If someone’s lost, we find them.If someone’s captured, we rescue them.If someone’s hurt, we take care of them.That isn’t just policy, it’s our ethos.Voltron wasn’t just some super powerful robot, it represents an ideal.That’s why people across the galaxy still remember Voltron so many millennia later.”

Hettie had already been finding it incredible how so many different races had formed an organization with such a strong sense of common culture in such a short period of time.Had all of these aliens grown up on stories of Voltron?Something else for historians or anthropologists to dig into.Lance, though, was getting a bit agitated, and she didn’t want to alienate him or lose the opportunity.

“So tell me about how you decided to get into space,” Hettie said.“Your sister had gone into the Garrison’s program before you, right?

Lance seemed generally excited to talk about himself and his family.She’d circle back for more information later.Lance was a fairly open person, and whatever therapy he had gotten seemed to have helped him.She wasn’t looking forward to it, but she was hoping he would be able to talk frankly about his time with the Galra in the end.

* * *

Hunk had told Keith that Lance was going to be interviewed by the reporter that evening, so Keith had decided to cut his workout short.He was at his door the moment Lance knocked and Lance hugged Keith the moment it opened.Keith noticed how tense he felt in his arms.

“Hey, can I…”

“Always,” Keith said.“Do you need to message your therapist?”

Lance shook his head.“I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

They were Wanderers, they weren’t meant to be alone.Keith didn’t always know what to say, but this one was simple.“You don’t have to be.”Not as long as Keith was alive.“Tell me more about growing up in Varadero.”Lance just needed to keep his head as far away from the war as possible for a bit.That worked.Lance could make a story out of anything, and he could always talk about home.They both sat on Keith’s bed and he reached over to take Lance’s hand, massaging it as Lance talked about a spontaneous adventure he’d gone on with some tourist kids.Eventually though, Lance slowed down, melancholic again.

“Tell me about our past lives,” Lance said. 

Keith wasn’t that great with stories. 

“You climbed a mountain and wrestled a… mountain goat like thing a few lifetimes ago,” Keith said.It had been to get the egg of a keffit bird, a delicacy and a common gift to show interest in someone. Keith had been allergic and Lance had held him all night in the healer’s ward.

“That sounds like something I’d do,” Lance said.“What were you doing at the time?”

Commiserating with his brother, trying to figure out if Lance liked him or not.

“I had no idea what you were doing, and I called you an idiot when you came back looking like you’d tumbled down the mountain.”

“That sounds like something you would do,” Lance said.“Did we remember each other that time?”

They hadn’t had access to their memories in that lifetime and had gotten to discover each other all over again.

“No,” Keith said.“You were just some knight’s page and I was just the local blacksmith’s apprentice who secretly moonlighted as the masked vigilante your master had been sent to capture.”

“And you started with the mountain?”

The mountain had been romantic.

“I liked the mountain bit,” Keith said. 

“So, did I ever catch you?” Lance asked.“Did friendship overcome our differences?”

Keith shrugged.“I let you catch me when I thought you were ready to understand that the king needed to be deposed.”

“Deposed?Wait, let me catch you?A likely story.So wait, we already knew each other, right?So, how’d I react when I caught you?”

They’d been grappling in the dirt in the middle of the night in the forest when the mask Keith had been wearing had come off.Keith wasn’t sure who started it, but they’d gone from fighting to doing something that would probably make Lance uncomfortable if Keith told him about it. 

“We talked it out,” Keith said.They’d talked eventually.

“I think you’re going to need to start from the beginning,” Lance said. 

It hadn’t been love at first sight, but Keith had thought Lance was cute the moment Lance had walked into the smithy with his master’s sword and by the time he’d left Keith had decided that Lance was either going to be his greatest ally or his most dangerous foe.

“You were the son of a minor noble and you were smarter than your master,” Keith said.“And you were friendly and you were interested in everyone around you and you’d just gotten out of your big city and you decided I could teach you everything about the area, so I did.”

Keith talked and kept working on Lance’s hands the entire time.Lance prompted him with plenty of questions, because Keith couldn’t tell a story right, and eventually Lance didn’t look run down he just looked tired. 

“We should get some sleep,” Keith said.The next part of the story was that the king was dead, but the revolution had just begun.He and Lance hadn’t lived much longer in that lifetime.They’d done what they were supposed to do, Keith supposed, and they’d died side by side, and they’d died in love, and what else could Keith ask for in a lifetime?

So they got ready for bed, and it had been a while since there had been any awkwardness around the both of them being in bed together.Lance had woken up so many times holding onto Keith and that night Lance didn’t start off on the other side of the bed.He held onto Keith as they drifted off.

“I’m glad it’s always you,” Lance said.

“We’ll always have each other,” Keith said, taking hold of Lance’s arm, hoping it would stay there all night.He waited for Lance’s breathing to even out to say, “I love you.”It was something he had said to Lance a million times before, but he had never said it out loud since he had been reborn on Earth.“And I think you love me too.”Maybe he was just shifting in his sleep, but Lance’s arm tightened around him just a bit.

* * *

Even with a rather large team, pulled from across all of the Galaxy Garrison, designing a fleet in a month was no easy task, especially when she started out working in quarantine.That being said, she always had time for her daughter.Her communicator alerted her to an incoming transmission.She glanced at it real quick.It was a recording, not a call. 

“Excuse me,” Coleen said, breaking away from an argument about external hand holds on airlocks.She moved into her office and started playing the transmission.She loved that it was a holo projector and that she could see her baby as if she was there in the flesh.

“Hey, Mom,” Pidge said when the recording began to play.She was in her quarters, and Colleen could see the intermediaries of a half dozen projects strewn about behind her.She could also see that her daughter had several braids in her hair with a thin silvery band woven into each one. It was hard not to try and reach out to hold her.“I hope you’re bashing heads together there at the Garrison.I can’t wait to see what you come up with down there.Hunk may have played it cool, but he was in love with the Heracles and he was super excited to meet one of the principle designers.He’s really looking forward to going over your designs.Speaking of Hunk though, he may have solved our refugee problem, we’ve got some parts we need to get in motion, but soon, I think it could be soon, and if I don’t find Matt first, we might just stumble across him as we start liberating work colonies.”

“I’ve got some awesome projects I’m working on that I’m not going to send over FTL, but with a bit of luck I might be sharing it with Matt or Dad before I see you again.I know I’m expecting results too soon, but I… I really need them to be okay.I’m going to find them.Dad’s going to want to ground me, probably. I’m expecting you to be on my side, okay?

“I’ve found something being sold on the interstellar market, or an advertisement for it, something the engineers are pretty sure would use Telerium.If I can find the supplier, it might lead us to where the Telerium was mined and that could be where Matt is.Shiro’s got us scheduled to drop by in a few days to check it out.Sounds like a space mall.

“The drama continues with Keith and Lance.Lance treat’s Keith like a teddy bear, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t see a single romantic thing going on.Meanwhile, I’m not sure how Keith hasn’t spontaneously combusted.For such a hothead, he’s sure patient with Lance.Lance has no idea that they’re flirting.I mean, I love the guy, but I don’t understand how anyone can be that oblivious.Hunk says we can’t just tell him, but sooner or later I’m going to have to start dropping hints.

“That project I was telling you about is almost done and we’re hoping to do a proper field test soon enough; we’ve got a bunch of people throughout the Alliance coming up with different ways to basically make sure the Empire can’t capture or copy the technology.The Council is focused on expanding the fleet right now, but I think I’m going to science our way to victory.Maybe when you’re done designing Earth’s fleet, and I find Matt and Dad, we can all live in the castle together and be team Holt.We’d figure everything out.”

Here, Pidge looked just a bit shifty.The look of a daughter who’s about to tell you she had ‘improved,’ the television.

“Broke my arm in training the other day.You know me and PT.The tech in the training deck makes it pretty hard to get injured, but I managed it.You know when I was little, and I’d get hurt, and you’d wait to see if I was going to cry or not before you reacted.Oh my god, I was handling it like a champ, and Lance and Shiro were acting like I was dying.It was my arm, not my leg, but Lance and Shiro were both like, ‘I’ll carry you to the infirmary.’ I had to use my taser to be allowed to walk.On the plus side, Lance ran off and got me junk food, so I can’t complain about that.Arm was fine soon enough, delayed start of mission by about an hour, but the day went fine after that.And just because I know you’re going to ask, yes Mom, I was wearing my helmet at the time.That’s Keith’s thing, actually.At first I thought it was just because Lance got a couple of head wounds early on, but I think he’s got some sort of deep seated trauma on the subject.

“So um, got my first period.Never thought I’d get to say that, huh.Felt like I should have been sitting next to you on the couch eating ice cream and doing some matriarchal bonding or something.I bothered Allura, though.The Alteans have their own ascension into womanhood milestone traditions, so I wound up getting my hair braided, as you can see, though Allura wished I had more hair to work with.I guess I wear these for a few more days before they get undone to symbolize the strands of my life flowing through the universe?The one time I’m not going to argue with Allura about her quintessence stuff.”

Colleen did want her daughter there, sitting on the couch, tucked under her arm, she wanted her daughter back on Earth, her whole family back on Earth.It still felt unreal that that was something that could be within her grasp, that she had her daughter back, that Matt and Sam could still be alive.

“Anyway,” Pidge said.“That’s it for me.I guess I’ll see you soonish.I love you Mom.”

The recording cut out.

“I love you too,” Colleen said.She’d record a response later that night.She went back out.Time to bash some more heads together.

* * *

Princess Allura was very easy to get along with, in that she was diplomatic and friendly.Diplomatic and friendly though, just meant you never really got the true measure of a person during a conversation.Hettie kept herself friendly.She didn’t know how it worked in the princess’s culture, back before the end of her people, but a friendly journalist on Earth didn’t actually mean a friendly journalist.

“So, tell me about quintessence,” Hettie said.“It’s what keeps popping through everything.I know Pidge and Hunk find it frustrating.”

“It is understandable that they would lack faith in something they cannot measure scientifically,” the princess said.“This isn’t like electricity, or photons.There is a magic inherent in life. It is universal across the galaxy, and likely across the universe. We call it quintessence.In advanced beings, with some form of consciousness, quintessence takes on a more complex form.I believe your people have different concepts for the soul.Some species are sensitive to quintessence and some even able to interact with it.Generations ago, my forbearers were able to blend the sciences and magic together to create the art of Alchemy.” 

“The wormhole generator onboard the ship uses Alchemy,” Hettie prompted.She wasn’t exactly ready to ask deep questions about the soul.It certainly wasn’t what she was out there for.

“Yes,” the Princess said.“Of course it is theoretically possible to build one without Alchemy, the power requirements would be truly astronomical, and compensating for an increasingly erratic event horizon would make targeting almost impossible.Alchemy allows us to apply the principles of science, while at the same time, bending the rules of the universe in a locality.”

“And Voltron?” Hettie asked.

The Princess considered a moment.“Voltron is the result of a mechanical construct gaining its own quintessence, taking on a life of its own that has become greater and more complex than it was created to be, and enhanced by the quintessence of the bonded pilot.”

“Does that mean you don’t fully understand how it works?” Hettie asked.

“Some aspects,” the Princess said.“I know you have questions about how the Paladins were chosen.We each have a quintessence that is unique to us, but the core essence of a person is a part of their quintessence.Each of the lions is looking for someone whose quintessence, their essence, is a match for their own.I could feel that in each of them when they arrived onboard the castle.Fate had brought them together to reawaken Voltron.”

“Did fate decide that the Galra should be able to expand their empire for thousands of years?” Hettie asked.

“I cannot claim to understand fate; I don’t think anyone who studies Alchemy ever has, but at the time when everything went wrong, there was an element at play, from outside of our own universe.Fate, one might say, was thrown off course.It led to the corruption of Zarkon and the destruction of the Galran home world.We were close allies to the Galra; there was a deep trust between our peoples.When we were betrayed, we were left without a defense.We were without the Black Paladin and could not form Voltron, we could not defend our home, and ultimately, we could not protect the galaxy from the damage that was done.”

“What was that outside influence?” Hettie asked.

The Princess shook her head.“It is too dangerous.Zarkon would recreate it if he could, his druids have likely been attempting it since the Empire was founded.I will not set anyone else on that quest for power.”

“Recreate what destroyed his world?” Hettie asked.

“He has plenty of worlds to destroy,” The Princess said.

“So power corrupted Zarkon?” Hettie asked. 

The Princess shook her head.“His ‘soul’ was corrupted.”

“What happens if he were able to recreate this power?” Hettie asked.

“An eternal empire that could reach out past the boundaries of our own galaxy,” The Princess said.“Or perhaps he and his druids have something grander in mind.Either way, I intend to stop him.”

“What sort of history have you gathered of the empire?” Hettie asked.

“Little reliable information,” the Princess said.“Particularly for anything more than a thousand decaphoebes ago.The castle has intercepted FTL communications since the beginning, which has given us an idea of their expansion.Compared to their rate of expansion now, they spent the majority of their history as a small empire.Besides that, we’ve gotten fairly localized histories from the different people’s we’ve encountered, mostly going back only a few generations.There are historians among the Plynthions and the Nang’ok attempting to put together a more comprehensive history of the Empire, the fleet coordinator’s office can put you in touch with them.Besides that, we have found Galran texts when we’ve raided their systems, but we largely take those with a great deal of skepticism.”

“How do they engage in propaganda?” Hettie asked. 

“In part they use the broadcasts of their blood sport as intimidation to the species that can pick them up.Largely, though, they use domination in the stead of propaganda.They aren’t exactly attempting to win peoples over to their side so much as they’re giving the choice of compliance or death.”

“And what of the Alliance’s propaganda?” Hettie asked.

The question didn’t phase the Princess.“The Galra do a lot of that for us.It is not difficult to show that they are the enemy of all free peoples.The presence of a growing alliance is proof that opposing the Empire is possible, and the longer we continue to fight them, the stronger that message becomes.Of course, so long after it disappeared, Voltron still lives on in myth’s across the galaxy.Having Voltron was, in fact, the deciding factor for the Kormians.In terms of direct propaganda, we have distributed messages across occupied worlds, telling them that Voltron is coming and that they should be ready to fight for their home and their freedom.”

“What role do you see for the Alliance in helping freed worlds to resume self governance?”

“Sovereignty is one of the core principles of the Alliance,” the Princess said.“We recognize a people’s right to self-determination.We have no intention of telling a newly freed world how to govern themselves, however, we are ready to provide advisors or mediators.Altea was involved in galactic stability before we fell, we knew that violence didn’t always end when a people become free.”

“Earth is made up of many nations,” Hettie said.“Will you involve Earth in your war if only some of them wish to join your Alliance?”

“The Empire is an enemy to all free peoples,” the Princess said.“Whether or not they want to fight against them.We will not deny anyone the right to participate in their own defense.We do hope, of course, that Earth will join as a unified force, as I understand there are different international governing bodies, but we will consider independent nations for the Alliance regardless of the wishes of their neighbors.”

“So if only a single nation joined, they could draw Earth into the war and become singularly in control of the fleet of hyper advanced warships you intend to build for Earth.”

“You are concerned that we will destabilize your world,” the Princess said.

“You have experience with destabilized worlds,” Hettie said.“What is your opinion on the matter?”

“It is possible,” the Princess said.“However, Alliance members agree to respect the sovereignty of all people who do not make war with us.On the other side, a nation joining the Alliance would have the support of the Alliance to protect it from hostile rival nations.”

“What would the Alliance’s response be if all of Earth declined to become a member?” Hettie asked.

“We would respect your people’s right to make that decision,” the Princess said.

“And if the Galra then invaded Earth?” Hettie asked.

“We oppose the Empire’s advance wherever it takes place,” Hettie said.“As small as we are currently, though, we must make our priorities judiciously.The loss of a populous world would be a victory for the Empire we do not want them to have, but it would not hurt the Alliance as deeply as it would if we lost a member world.Our response would be dependent on the situation.”

If the Princess were a human, Hettie would be certain that she was being evasive with that answer, perhaps for the first time during the interview.She just couldn’t fully gauge an alien’s body language and mannerisms as if she were back on Earth.Still though, she had spoken generally rather than speak directly of Earth, and Earth wasn’t any other planet.

“Even with all five pilots of Voltron being from Earth?” Hettie asked.

A pause.“As I said, our response would be dependent on the situation.The council would have to take that into consideration.”

“What will happen to the Alliance should the Galra be defeated?” Hettie asked.

“That would depend on the state of the galaxy and the size of the Alliance,” the Princess said.“As well as the wills of the individual peoples.The fall of an Empire is messy, chaotic; the Alliance could help to provide a peaceful transition, facilitate treaties, establish trade.We all benefit from stability.”

“Would you aim to continue to lead the Alliance?” Hettie asked.

“I think that would be ideal,” the Princess said.“I am a leader without a people.Who better to lead an Alliance than one who does not have a stake with any one member.Of course, that decision would be up to the Council.”

“You would continue to claim control of Voltron, regardless,” Hettie said.

“Voltron is of Altea,” the Princess said. “It is my duty to be their steward.The Castle of Lions is their home.I will not abandon the Alliance, however, just because the Council decides to remove me from power.Ensuring that Voltron is a force for good in the Galaxy will always be one of my top priorities, though.”

“The Alliance is dependent on Voltron,” Hettie commented.

“If Voltron fell, I would do everything I could to keep the Alliance together, we still have other tactical advantages over the Empire, but you aren’t overstating Voltron’s importance.”

“And Voltron is dependent on five pilots who cannot easily be replaced,” Hettie said.“A soldier on Earth serves for a time and then retires, soldiers are cycled between battle fields and home stations, soldiers have leave.What do the Paladins have?”

“A duty that they have accepted,” the Princess said.“I cannot claim that they aren’t the most taxed participants in this war.I cannot call it fair or just.Unfortunately though, I cannot invite them to retire or cycle through or take leave.When the Alliance grows large enough, we could conceivably go a time without Voltron, but we will never not rely on it or them.”

“This war will easily last their entire lifetime,” Hettie said.Unless their advanced technology could keep the five of them in the cockpit for a millennia.

“Eventually, we expect we will find new potential matches for Voltron,” the Princess said.“A retirement I cannot guarantee or predict.”

“And if one of them decided to walk away?” Hettie asked.

“Then we would have to hope that a new pilot could be quickly found,” the Princess said.

Hettie wasn’t sure that any of them would walk away.Their heads filled with legends and talk of fate and their singular importance.If they truly had been chosen, then Hettie supposed that they had been chosen well, if all you cared about was a dedicated pilot.

“You mentioned establishing trade earlier,” Hettie said.“I’d like to get an idea of how Earth could participate in that.”

With every other assignment Hettie had ever gotten, she had a background, a history, an idea of how the different sides operated and had interacted with one another in the past.There’d been no briefing for this conflict though, and much of the general knowledge she would normally take for granted just wasn’t available to her.She’d been adapting since the start, and she’d probably still be playing catchup by the time they returned to Earth.

* * *

Her first time in the theatre of battle with the Paladins, Hettie had been strapped into a seat offset behind Keith onboard the Red Lion, with a limited view of the battle space.That had been okay; there were recordings of the actual battle she could use, but being inside the cockpit with one of the combatants had been what she had wanted to get on film.It was more visceral on camera, more kinetic.Even in-between engagements, though, Keith was not the best person to have on camera.It wasn’t that he didn’t have a presence of his own, but he was always clearly uncomfortable knowing he was on camera and he was terrible about answering open ended questions with single word responses.

Still, Keith had been the one to clear her to accompany a mission with the strike team.It had taken her a few tries to get Shiro to agree to send her out with Lance, though.The boy was just better suited for the camera, and he was responsive.A part of her warned that she wasn’t making an action movie, but she still needed something to work with.She needed someone on the battlefield for the audience to identify with, and between the two of them, that was Lance. 

The morning of her first mission started like all the others.A ridiculous workout she was starting to get used to, gearing up in armor and running, dodging, and shielding, and then washing away the fatigue and cleaning up for breakfast and the briefing of the day’s missions.The first mission of the day, the one Hettie would be in the middle of, was in a shipyard that may have been installing new shields for the Galran fleet in the sector.The strike team was going in, grabbing specifications, and getting out before the whole thing would be destroyed.The only part of the mission that defied Hettie’s expectations was that she’d expected the shipyard to be a space station in orbit of some system, or hidden in some asteroid belt, like the Alliance wanted to do in Earth’s solar system, but the target for the morning’s mission was deep in a canyon on a dry rocky planet that certainly didn’t look like it had ever had water to carve out the landscape.

“Alright,” Lance said as they left the meeting.“I’ve done this plenty of times, as long as you follow directions, I’ll get you out the other end of this mission.”

“I’ve also done this plenty of times,” Hettie said.“And I do know how to follow directions.”She also knew there were no guarantees.Aryana hadn’t died because she hadn’t followed directions, she’d died because a mortar had fallen in her foxhole.Now her dog tags were around Hettie’s neck; they followed her, like Aryana had followed her into the Army.“Don’t worry about me,” she said.“But don’t worry about the cameras either.Pretend they’re not there.You don’t need to perform for them.”Young soldiers liked to be heroes on camera.“I have literally had people try to play Rambo because they knew I was filming them.It did not end well.”

Lance laughed.It was difficult to reconcile him with the boy she’d interviewed the evening before about his time as a POW.“The camera’s all the more reason for me to stay focused on the mission; Mamá doesn’t ever see a video of me getting shot.”

Whatever reason he needed to come home in one piece, Hettie would be glad for it.He was younger than Hettie had been, younger than Aryana.She’d met boys on the battlefield, heads full of fantasies that told them they were invincible; some of them never left the battlefield.The Strike Team had a different armory than the Paladins did, so the two of them split off. 

Hettie was already in the armor’s undersuit and she got help from Sevina in putting on the armor for which Hettie reciprocated.Sevina was one of the largest people in the Strike Team and she was the medic for Alpha, Hettie would be sticking close to her during the mission. 

“Are you excited for the battle?” Sevina asked.

She was.She always was.She was always eager to get back in the theatre. 

“I’m eager to show everyone what the battle against the Galra looks like up close,” Hettie said.“What about you?”

Sevina gave what Hettie had come to identify as a grin for an Antedian. 

“It is good to be excited before the battle,” Sevina said.“But once it starts it’s just calm.”

“Could I interview you some time?” Hettie asked.“I’d appreciate an opportunity to tell as many perspectives as I can of this war.”

“If it agrees with Katollis, I would be glad to,” Sevina said.

Hettie snapped on Sevina’s backplate, the kit complete.She stood up, the exoskeleton support of the armor made it very mobile but Hettie could still feel the heft of it.Sevina picked up her rifle and medic’s bag; Hettie grabbed her camera bag, a combination of her own equipment and some additions from the fleet’s newly established PR office. 

The Antedians assembled and made their way towards the lion’s bay in an orderly fashion, though not without the same enthusiasm they held in training.Hettie captured the entire route from the armory to the bay as they heckled one another and laughed in the face of the oncoming battle.Lance was already up in the Blue Lion when they arrived and Hettie split off from the Strike Team who were riding in the troop compartment while Hettie would be in one of the back seats of the cockpit with Lance. 

“Of course we could take a squad of Predators,” Lance was saying when Hettie got up top.“Alpha could take them all day any day.”

Hettie went to the front of the cockpit and mounted one of her cameras so it would have a view of Lance during the flight.Lance didn’t seem to notice her, wrapped up in whatever he was hearing over his comms.

“Well, neither do we,” Lance said.“Besides, Predators only look tough because they’re never up against humans who are on a similar technological level.” 

Hettie got herself situated and strapped down.

“Of course you haven’t seen it,” Lance said.“Pidge, add it to the list… The movies-Keith-needs-to-see list… Why would we add it to the proof-Keith-is-a-snake-person list?Of course snake people would watch Predator movies… Okay, you all heard it people.Keith, you just outed yourself.Pidge, add Predator to the movie list, and Keith’s suspicious knowledge of sneopole to the snake people list… Oh, a likely story… Right!”Lance pushed a button on one of the side panels.“Everyone strapped in down there?”

Someone must have answered in the affirmative; Lance was nodding his head.He got up from his seat.“And where is my passenger?”He looked behind himself and seemed surprised to see that Hettie was already there.He did a quick check of her equipment and harness.

“Any questions?” Lance asked.

“Snake people?” Hettie asked.

“Just a running joke,” Lance said.“It’s good to break the tension a bit before we start.”

“Is there a movie night?” Hettie asked.

“There is and you’re invited,” Lance said, getting back into his seat.She didn’t have the same view that she had in the Red Lion’s cockpit, but she could still see enough to follow their exit from the Lion’s Bay.

“Forming Voltron,” Lance announced.

There were sounds of mechanical shifting and the screens changed to show the view from the head.Next it was Shiro’s voice coming in over the comms letting everyone know that they were entering the wormhole.The starry black of space was replaced soon with the colors of the wormhole and then a reddish brown planet was in front of them.Lance called out observations and movements as they engaged the small fleet of Galran battle cruisers that were protecting the ship yard.Occasionally Hettie could see other fleet ships moving around on the view screens. 

Lance was different when Voltron was formed, when they were all linked up.He was still gregarious and loud, but it seemed like he was only talking for the sake of it, he’d drift off mid way, because, as she understood it, they were all in each other’s heads, they already knew what he was going to say.

“Prepare for separation and atmospheric entry,” Lance called out.

Moments later they were hitting the planet’s atmosphere at a high speed, weaving through a barrage of plasma cannon fire and picking off fighters as they went. 

“That’s six for me,” Lance called out.Hettie knew who he was competing with, based on her time in the Red Lion.

“Hunk, you’ve got all these guys behind me right?” Lance asked… “That’s what I like to hear.”

The vast canyon and the ship yard within came into view. 

“Get ready to egress,” Lance shouted out over the ship’s comms.

They were approaching their landing site rapidly, and at the last moment they came to a screeching halt.Hettie pulled the quick release on her harness and rushed down to where the Antedians were waiting, Lance following just behind her.

“Go, go, go,” Lance said, the doors just opening.The three Antedians in front engaged their thrusters and shot through, and then the three behind them, and so on.Hettie was in line, sandwiched between Lance and Sevina, and then it was their turn.It was the first time she was using her thrusters outside the relative safety of the training deck.The moment she was clear of the entryway she held her arm out and activated the shield.No one was firing at them yet.

They were running the moment they touched down.Hettie glanced back to see the last of Alpha jumping out before the Blue Lion leapt up and threw itself at an incoming fighter.Hettie slapped a button on her chest and two drones detached themselves from her armor and followed her, recording up high for her what she wasn’t getting with her hand held and other mounted cameras. 

They came upon the first landing of the installation that spanned down the side of the canyon. There were sentries, dodging and flowing as they fired at them, a splash of plasma washed over her shield and Hettie barely registered it.A quick command from Lance had the Antedians shifting their formation and the front rank formed a shifting shield wall that gave a non-static cover for the rest of them to pick off the sentries.

The flow of the battle was quick, and they moved from one landing to the next.Along the way they took out the hi-tech version of anti-personnel weapons emplacements.There had been parts of the enemy's structure that they hadn’t wanted to hammer too hard from space lest they bury their target under a collapsed canyon wall.Any time something gave them pause, a call over the comms brought fire raining down from above onto the Galran forces, but they were obviously careful about it.They reached one of their objectives and Lance took a position that overlooked the landings below.

“Katollis, go!” Lance ordered.

Katollis and most of the team jumped to the next level.Lance’s rifle transformed, elongating into what Hettie had to assume was a sniper’s rifle.Sevina and one other Antedians stayed with them, posting as shields for Lance’s back as he started firing on the landings below.Hettie detached her monitor and knelt down.She kept her handheld on Lance while she directed the two drones to get a better view of the battle below.Finally the Red Lion flew down and Keith with Bravo Team spilled out and entered the core of the installation while Alpha guarded their entry.

The battle in the skies was dying off and the fighting on the landings had all but stopped; there were more ground troops that had landed behind them to secure the topmost levels.Suddenly Lance cursed.

“Hettie, give me that monitor,” Lance said.

Most any other order, she wouldn’t have hesitated, it was his job to get her out alive, but this was her equipment.A moment of hesitation was all it was, though; she slid the monitor to him and he was quick to redirect one of her drones.There was a Galran officer quickly making his way around the periphery of one of the lower levels.Lance seemed to focus in on the small of his back.

“Katollis,” Lance said.“You’ve got a Galra coming your way, thirty-five degrees off of the entrance.Give him distance and do not engage unless he does anything hostile.”

“We’re letting him go?” Katollis asked.

“I can’t explain right now,” Lance said.He had already turned his attention away from the conversation and was recalling the other drone. 

“Put in a blank memory crystal and record me,” Lance said.He had already returned to his position watching the activity below.

He owed her a damned good interview for this.

“You’re on,” Hettie said, pointing her handheld at him.He was still facing the landings below.

“The Voltron Alliance wants to talk to the Blade,” Lance said.“End message.Sevina give Hettie some medical tape, Hettie, tape that crystal to the drone.”

The mission had taken a drastic turn.Hettie taped the data crystal with Lance’s message to the drone and he sent it off.

“He gave us a wide berth,” Katollis said.“I’m not sure we would have seen him if you hadn’t said anything.He’s approaching a fighter.”

Lance was navigating the drone back down.“Once he’s in, have Tarris shoot it with a tag.”

Hettie watched the monitor as the drone approached the Galran officer.It happened very fast.He barely seemed to move but she could see the dagger that swung out just before the feed ended.

“Katollis, did he pick anything up from the ground just now?” Lance asked.

“We lost visual from our position,” Katollis said.

“We’ll just have to hope,” Lance said, returning to sweeping the canyon with his rifle.“Lance to Coran, we’re tagging a fighter, I need it to escape.”

Hettie couldn’t hear the response, only Lance’s follow up of, “I will.”

Moments later Bravo team exited the facility, the Red and Blue Lions came to pick them up, and they left.

“What’s the blade?” Hettie asked after she’d buckled herself in.

“I wouldn’t have said that in front of you if I’d had a better alternative,” Lance said.

“Is it classified?” Hettie asked.

“It’s a rumor,” Lance said. 

“You gambled a lot on a rumor,” Hettie said.

“Someone gambled a lot on me once upon a time,” Lance said. 

With the all clear that ground troops were off the surface, a massive barrage of weapons fire rained down from above, destroying the entirety of the installation.

“Was that the only Galra who got to leave?” Hettie asked.

“We broadcast the option to surrender,” Lance said.“That’s the best we could do.”

“Allowing them to retreat was also an option,” Hettie said.

“Trillions of people in this galaxy don’t have that option,” Lance said.“Didn’t have that option.How many people on Earth could retreat if the Galra showed up?One way or another, they need to be removed from the battle, they made their choice; we don’t have to like it, but we can’t pretend that they weren’t just going to go set up shop somewhere else to churn out warships to conquer more of the galaxy.”

He didn’t sound hostile like Keith, or uncomfortably resolute like Hunk, rather, he just seemed sad.

“Who knows, though, maybe something turned around today,” Lance said in his more regular demeanor, full of bravado and optimism. 

“Because you might be able to talk to the blade?” Hettie asked.

“Because the mission was a complete success,” Lance said. 

* * *

“We can’t trust them,” Keith said.“We have no idea what that dagger means, it could just be a coincidence.”

It was a full council meeting and Keith was having a hard time not just blurting out what he really wanted to say to Lance just then.

“I know that,” Lance said.“But if I’m right…”

“If you’re right,” said one of the Antedian delegates whose name Keith could never remember.“Then we still have to decide if we want to ally ourselves with this rogue Galran faction.It would be bold to assume that there could ever be trust between us.” 

“No one’s saying we just jump into this,” Hunk said.

“We should at least have a dialogue,” Lance said.

“It has always been posited that an accord with some faction of Galra would have to be reached before the end of this war,” Delegate Tal’a’Kit said.“It is extreme to think that there is no possibility with any of the Galra.”

“She can’t be trusted,” Keith bit out.A number of heads turned his way.“They can’t be trusted.Just because some Galran soldier made a show of rescuing Lance in another timeline-“

“They’d already won,” Lance said.“They didn’t have any reason to trick me.”

“You don’t know that they’d actually won,” Keith said.

“Blue was there,” Lance said.“I believe her.She opposed Zarkon and she’s not the only one.”

“We don’t actually know that these daggers actually mean anything though.Just because this one Galra had one doesn’t mean everyone who does have one is in the same group.”

“It’s the best we have to go on,” Delegate Firth said.“There is a potential for a large gain in our understanding of the Empire, and we can minimize our risks.”

“Opposing Zarkon does not necessarily mean that they can be our allies,” Admiral Tanglin said.“They may simply wish for regime change and saw Paladin Lance as a chance to grab a part of Voltron.”

“As well, they may simply be too small of a group to actually be of any use,” Delegate Mav’Den said.“If they were large enough to be effective we would have seen evidence of their existence before now.”

“Even small, they could be a good source of information, if nothing else,” Delegate Tal’a’Kit said.“A single well placed spy could devastate a military command.”

“We haven’t seen any evidence of them existing in any of our data hauls,” Pidge said.“If the Blade of Marmora exists, then either the Empire doesn’t want to broadcast the possibility that anyone from within wants to oppose them, they’re doing their own covert attempt to weed them out, or they actually don’t know this faction exists.”

“Paladin Pidge, we do not believe that the Empire has a robust counter intelligence wing,” one of the Kormian delegates said after one of their aids had whispered into their ear.

“Granted, um, honored delegate,” Pidge said.“So if they don’t actually know this organization exists, and they could be an asset to us, then we need to lock this down.We kept that part of the chronoton incident debrief at the highest classification level, I’m putting this incident under the same classification.Need to know only.”

“I’ll talk to the Strike Team,” Lance said.“Ms. Shirazi though…”

“I’ll talk to her,” Shiro said.It was the first thing he’d said since the ‘Blade of Marmora’ had been brought up.Allura and Coran also hadn’t weighted in yet. 

“I think this is a possibility we need to explore,” Allura said. 

“Agreed,” Shiro said. 

“Is the Council ready to advance the matter?” Coran asked.

There was a general consensus. 

“The motion before the council is the agreement to attempt a dialogue with the Blade of Marmora,” Allura said.

Besides Shiro, the paladins didn’t get a vote, but even if Keith had been able to, he wouldn’t have been able to turn the majority which agreed to the motion.There was more for the council to discuss but Keith, Lance, and Hunk were released.Pidge stayed to represent her intelligence unit.

“Hey man, everything alright after all that?” Hunk asked Lance when they were out in the hall.

“Sure,” Lance said.“I’m not going to get upset every time my visit with Zarkon get’s brought up.”

Keith hadn’t even considered that, and he took a moment to look Lance over.He was getting better at recognizing when Lance was struggling.He didn’t exactly look great, but he also didn’t look like he was about to break down.Keith stepped closer to him.

“We need to go debrief the Strike Team,” Lance said.

“I’m going to be tweaking the cloaking devices later,” Hunk said.“Come help me work with your lions when you're done.”

“Sure,” Lance said.“Can’t wait to play cat and mouse with the Galra.”

“That’s what we’d be doing if we go along with your idea,” Keith said, not willing to let the matter drop.

Lance looked around.“I think we have a common goal,” he insisted.

“Sure, until we don’t and she abandons you!” Keith said.

“Look,” Lance said.“I get that that sucked, but you can’t let that be the thing that decides how we deal with this.”

“Guys, what are we talking about?” Hunk asked.

The both of them looked at Hunk.

“Nothing,” they both said at the same time.

Hunk just looked between them for a moment.“Are we talking about Keith’s alien mom?”

Neither of them said anything.

“Well shit,” Hunk said.“Why not?This might as well happen, since I guess ‘fate’ is deciding everything.”

“Hunk…” Lance started.

“So who knows?” Hunk asked.

“The princess,” Keith said.

“And?”

“That’s it,” Keith said.

“How do you know?” Hunk said.“I mean, I assume the Ocaampans could tell you about heritage, but is she actually a part of…”

“Family resemblance,” Lance said.“She’s the one we were just talking about.Look, we shouldn’t be talking about this out here.”

“I guess we can talk about it on your lions after you’re done talking to the Strike Team,” Hunk said.

Keith would rather not talk about it at all, but he didn’t want Hunk telling anyone.

“Just don’t say anything,” Lance said.

“I know when not to gossip,” Hunk said.

They made their way down to the Strike Team’s quarters. 

“It’s going to be alright,” Lance said.

“You don’t know that,” Keith responded.

“I know we’ve got each other’s backs,” Lance said.“And even though I’m all for this, I know better than to rush into this blindly.Just… I know you’re upset.You’ve got a right to be.I’m not asking you to forgive her though, just give this a chance.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s up to me anyway,” Keith said. 

“Still though,” Lance said.He stopped walking and Keith turned to face him.Lance reached out and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder.“We’re a team. I wouldn’t… I don’t know what I would have done these past few months if I didn’t have you by my side.I mean, you and the team.You all have helped me a lot, but um, you’ve really… I’m glad we’ve become friends.If you want to find answers, I’ll help you find answers, and if you don’t want anything like that, then I’ll support that too.You don’t have to say anything to her, she doesn’t even have to know who you are to her.”

“I thought the family resemblance was striking,” Keith said.

“It’s okay to take a back seat on this one,” Lance said, he gave Keith’s shoulder a squeeze and there was understanding behind his eyes that Keith couldn’t have recognized in anyone else.How could Lance understand what he was going through, though?Maybe he understood because he was his soulmate, or maybe it was because Lance just cared so much.Keith stepped forward and grabbed onto him and tried to draw from him the strength he seemed to think that Keith gave him.Lance’s arms wrapped around him, giving Keith everything he needed.

Lance was wrong about one thing though, because Lance was going to be out front, and he was right about Keith being by his side.He always would be.Keith wasn’t going to be taking a back seat.He couldn’t.

“I’ll deal with it,” Keith said.“Whatever happens.”

“I’ll be here,” Lance answered.“Whatever happens.

The Strike Team at least didn’t ask any questions.Hunk was another matter.

“So, why aren’t you purple?” Hunk asked later, when they’d assembled in the Red Lion.

“Hunk!” Lance exclaimed.“You can’t just ask someone why they aren’t purple.”

“I mean, two alien species shouldn’t even be compatible at all,” Hunk said.“Unless Galra genetics is somehow highly adaptable, or maybe highly recessive, but even then, you’d expect something from his mom besides a ‘family resemblance.’”

“I’ll be sure to ask the Ocaampans next time I see them,” Keith said.

Hunk was acting like he didn’t care, like Lance had, even like the princess had.If things went forward though, was everyone else going to find out?The Blade couldn’t be trusted, but would everyone come to the same conclusion about Keith?Would it even come up?His mother probably wouldn’t recognize him, regardless of any ‘family resemblance,’ but it’s not like his name was a secret.He had no idea how his parents had met and definitely no idea how they had decided they should have a baby together.She’d probably recognize the name Kogane.Had she even stuck around long enough to know his name was Keith?

“So you’re all up in everyone’s business,” Lance said to Hunk.

“This is true,” Hunk said, nodding, most of his attention on the access panel he’d exposed in the Blue Lion’s cockpit.

“So what were you betting on?” 

“Well, ignoring the whole alien-species-can’t-make-viable-offspring thing?The most humanoid aliens we’ve met are the Alteans.”

Hunk had mistaken him for one of the race his mother’s people had perpetrated a genocide against.

“So are our Lions going to be cloaked now or what?” Keith asked.

“Sure,” Hunk said.“Pending trials.”

“What sort of trials?” Keith asked.

“Go fly circles around a cruiser and see if they react or send off any comms about it,” Hunk said. 

“I call dibs,” Lance said.He looked at Keith and Keith wasn’t sure why.It took him a moment.

“Shouldn’t the best pilot do the test?” Keith asked.

“That’s why I’m going first,” Lance said.

“As soon as Hunk’s done here we can test that out,” Keith said. 

“Do you two need some privacy for this?” Hunk asked.

“Huh?” Lance asked.

Keith felt his cheeks warm as he blushed.Oddly enough, it was comforting that Hunk was teasing him after finding out about his mom.

* * *

“Tag,” Lance crowed.“You’re it!And Lance Sanchez makes a new record, getting Kogane in less than one minute putting him solidly in the lead.”

“The lead?” Keith demanded, his face showing up on Lance’s screen.“I’ve gotten you five times in under two minutes.This is your second.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never gotten me in under one,” Lance said.

“Then start the clock, because I’m taking off the kid gloves,” Keith said.

Lance grinned, because Keith looked happy, and he looked at Lance like Lance was the one who made him that way, and Lance was the one he had to pull out all of the stops to beat.Keith could always get his heart thumping in a way that left him feeling elated rather than tense.

“Come and get me, hotshot,” Lance said.

Keith didn’t get him in under one, but he continued to dominate the field.Eventually they had to go in for a meeting scheduled with Erriss and Katollis to discuss progress on retraining.

“Swimming after?” Lance asked.

“Hit the training deck with me,” Keith said.“We haven’t sparred together in a while.”

Lance shook his head.“There’s a Plynthion unit rotating through it tonight, a whole Battalion.Tell you what, you’re a pretty solid swimmer now, we could spar in the water.”

Keith’s cheeks flushed.

“Don’t worry, I won’t drown you,” Lance said.

“As if you could,” Keith said.

“I’m sorry, are you challenging me to drown you?” Lance asked.

“Well, I’ll be winning, so it won’t matter,” Keith said.

“We’ll see about that,” Lance said.

Keith looked distracted during the meeting, which was fine, since Lance was more than able to run it himself, even if he did find himself looking over at him periodically to wonder what was on his mind.He only lost track of the conversation a few times.

They made their way up to the top deck where they changed into their swim trunks and jumped into the water.Lance swam a few laps to warm up.

Keith was still standing at the edge and Lance took a moment to notice the effect that their rigorous training and their Ocaampan sports drinks had made on Keith’s body.He wasn’t the half starved guy he’d been when it had all started.

“Get in here,” Lance yelled; he was eager to get started.

“You sure sparring in the pool is a good idea?” Keith asked.

“We’re working in a new terrain,” Lance cajoled.“What if we need to fight in a water world?”

“I actually did see that movie,” Keith said.

“That tracks, since it is a terrible movie,” Lance said.

Keith jumped in and swam straight for Lance.Just like that, they’d started.They stayed just at the edge of the shallow end, just able to keep their heads above water if they stood on their toes and they fought.It was different in the water, it slowed them down.Lance found that jabs were much more effective than pretty much anything else.It quickly devolved into wrestling though.Lance’s longer leaner limbs came in handy, and Keith definitely wasn’t the only one who had gotten stronger. 

Between the resistance of the water and repeatedly having to hold their breath, the two of them tired a bit more quickly than they would have on the training deck.Lance shoved Keith’s head under water and tried to get him into an arm bar but had to let go since he couldn’t keep his own head above water.He shot up for air and backed off a bit towards the shallow end of the pool.Keith followed him and Lance leaned against the wall of the pool as he caught his breath.He leaned up against Keith and draped his arm across the shorter boy’s shoulders.Keith leaned back into him.The exhilaration of their sparring was still coursing through him.

“I think I won that one,” Lance said. 

“I’m not sure what you’re measuring that by,” Keith said.

“By the amount of time your head was under water,” Lance said.

“It was a tactical move,” Keith said.“I was holding my breath to get a better position.”

“I guess I kept helping you get there,” Lance said.

Keith smiled at him and suddenly Lance felt almost heady.The arm around Keith felt different than it did when they were sat next to each other on movie night.He brushed his hand against Keith’s skin.He felt electric.Keith’s hand came up to meet his own, holding it against his shoulder.Lance wanted to touch more of him.

As if he’d read Lance’s mind, Keith turned his body towards Lance and Lance turned to meet him.Keith’s hands rested just above Lance’s hips.A charge was building inside of him, he felt more alive than he did in the middle of a dog fight.Lance had to do something and he wondered if Keith was going to beat him to it.They were still sort of catching their breath when Lance leaned down and put his mouth on Keith’s.Keith sighed into his mouth and a hand came up to wrap around the back of Lance’s head, holding them together.The movements were sloppy at first, Lance had never really ‘made out’ with anyone before, but very quickly everything felt in sync, or at least if felt too good for him to notice if it wasn’t. 

One of Keith’s hands ran up and down Lance’s side and Lance returned the gesture, his other hand wrapped around Keith, pulling him closer, their chests pressed together.It didn’t feel like enough.They were leaning into each other, but Lance wanted them to be closer.He put his hands on Keith’s hips, where they felt like they fit perfectly and he tugged Keith towards him, an invitation that Keith took as their hips met, their bodies flush, fitting together, and suddenly everything felt a hundred times better.Lance moaned, and his hands wandered lower to Keith’s backside.

Keith pulled his head back just long enough to say “We should go to my quarters.”

They should absolutely go back to Keith’s quarters, Lance thought as he retook Keith’s lips, moaning in agreement.They should go back to Keith’s quarters where they could…

Lance gasped and pulled back.Keith looked up at him questioningly.Their bodies, their hips, were still pressed together and Lance could feel what was in-between them.It felt good, every inch of his body felt good and it would have been so much easier to lean his head back down, or to take Keith’s hand and go see if they could keep their hands off of each other long enough to take a shower and get down below to Keith’s bed, but Lance was saving himself and Keith was- Keith was a guy.

“I- I need to go,” Lance said.

Keith looked at him, wide eyed, his pupils dilated.His arms fell to his side and he took a step back, looking down.

“Lance-“

Lance pushed himself up out of the pool and took off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I moved across the country, again, but I'm working from home and I'm actually going to have my own home office. Anyhow, this series is winding down, only two more chapters I think. I hope you're enjoying and that you'll leave a comment.


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